Subscribe

0

Telecom Services V&D 100

Top10 Vendors: 3 - RELIANCE: Robust Growth

author-image
Voice&Data Bureau
New Update

Reliance Communications, the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG)
company, has become the first Indian telecommunications company to reward its
shareholders through a dividend payout when it announced its maiden dividend for
FY '07. The 10% dividend was announced after an impressive 34.4% growth in
topline that shot up to Rs 14,468 crore from Rs 10,766 crore. Growth in net
profit was a whopping 612% at Rs 3,163.2 crore against Rs 443.9 crore.

Advertisment

During the twelve months ended March 31, 2007, revenues of the
wireless business increased 46% to Rs 10,728 crore, up from Rs 7,364 crore. The
broadband business achieved revenue growth of 123% to reach Rs 1,144 crore. The
growth is significant as this is the first year of operations under a new
management after the demerger.

3 - Reliance

FY '07 has been eventful for Reliance Communications with many
firsts in its offerings, besides the maiden dividend. In a bid to increase its
rural penetration, the company has completed rolling out six lakh telephone
connections with a slew of exciting offers for its prepaid subscribers till
March 2007. With this, the company took phone connections to 40,000 villages
hitherto devoid of any phones under this particular program.

Advertisment

In one of its unique initiatives, the company launched a scheme
that offered Free Group Term Life Cover exclusively to more than 25 mn CDMA
subscribers of Reliance Mobile and Reliance Hello. This first-of-its-kind scheme
in the country, offers Reliance Communications' customers an insurance cover of
up to Rs 50,000 through an SMS without having to pay any premium.

The company has been adding nearly one mn users a month and
there are obvious reasons for this stunning growth. Reliance Communications
customers were enabled to make STD calls at Rs 1 per minute. The low tariff was
applicable for all post-paid and pre-paid customers of mobile and fixed wireless
subscribers.

AREA OPERATION:

Wireless,
Wireline Broadband, ILD/NLD Bandwith Services, Enterprise Data Access
Services

ADDRESS: Dhirubhai Ambani
Knowledge City I-Block, Thane-Belapur Road Koparkhairane, Navi Mumbai 400
710

Tel: 022 — 30373333

Fax: 022 — 30386799

Website: www.reliancecommunications.co.in 

Highlights

  • Completed rolling out
    six lakh telephone connections with a slew of exciting offers for its
    prepaid users

  • Launched Hello Capital
    Plan

  • Launched Free Group Term
    Life Cover scheme exclusively to more than 25 mn CDMA subscribers
Advertisment

Launch of the latest exciting offer-Hello Capital Plan, which
enabled Reliance customers to make calls between state capitals at the local
call rates of 40 paise per minute was yet another first from Reliance
Communications.

The company also attracted customers, who wanted to reach out to
their folks outside of India, with ISD rates that were lower by 66%. The new
tariffs are amongst the lowest in the country and the service is available on
Reliance Global Call card across all denominations.

On the value added services front, Reliance Communications has
emerged as one of the most dominant players. The launch of a comprehensive and
information-packed program titled 'Cracking Admissions in Colleges Abroad'
for students aspiring to study abroad, was received well by users. It has also
launched the unique Zee TV program-Suno Zee on the Mobile.

Advertisment
'We
plan to spread our reach to 22,000 towns during the current fiscal'

The Indian telecom industry continued
with its growth momentum last fiscal. What were the most exciting things
that Reliance Communications did during this period?



We are delighted at the many firsts, and record achievements at Reliance
Communications. This is the first year after the demerger, and with Mr
Anil Ambani at the helm of affairs directly. We have undertaken lots of
initiatives. We have invested heavily in network expansion and
technologies. The mission of our network expansion has been to reach every
nook and corner of the country. We are planning to spread our reach to
22,000 towns during the current fiscal. We have completed reorganization
of our businesses and the result is visible in our financials.

SP
Shukla
President,
Personal

On top of this, as our
customers got older, many new initiatives were offered, while revising
tariff plans. In a nutshell, we built a marketing organization that
focuses on tariff design, subscriber additions and profitability.

You pioneered a number of schemes.
How has the customer experience been?

We introduced a number of unique offers, many of which were copied by our
rivals. We were the first to introduce One India tariff plan aimed at both
post-paid and pre-paid high-end users, and later it was copied by our
competition. Our Capital City plan also targeted at the high-end user
received an overwhelming response. The lifetime offer and flexi-tariff
schemes became huge hits.

Going rural is the mantra for several
service providers. What are your plans on this?

This year, we will be going deep into rural areas. We have already
enhanced our presence in the rural belt. Currently, we are able to give
impetus to the Government's rural initiative and fulfill our obligation by
taking the telephone to far-flung areas. Our tariffs are made very
attractive and affordable to benefit the rural people who have come to
realize the necessity to stay connected with the rest of the world.
Through our earlier programs, we understood how to distribute, how to
publicize and provide electronic recharge of prepaid connections in the
rural areas. This is a major gain for us.

You have a unique handset
distribution strategy. Can India expect more cost effective phones from
Reliance Communications in the coming months?

We will be launching a slew of high-end and low-end handsets shortly. We
have already increased the number of phones from around 15-16 to 50 at
present. This has enabled Reliance customers to select the best from a
variety of models and brands. Nokia, LG, Samsung, Motorola, etc are our
vendors who are devising new handsets. The introduction of the Classic
range was to supplement the other range of handsets.

What are your future plans in order
to maintain growth?

We are planning to increase the rural distribution network; will be
introducing more handsets; launch of DTH and IPTV is in the offing; plans
are on to spend $2.5 bn during the current fiscal; 3G launch is under
evaluation; we are open to overseas forays and will be participating in
bidding processes.

Though the revenue from enterprises side has just crossed the Rs
1,000 crore mark, the company has announced a number of initiatives.

Reliance, one of the new players in the telecom market, has
already challenged its compititors with innovative schemes and service. Their
thrust on innovation will continue forever.