Indian Telecom is the fastest growing industry next only to the IT industry. Investment in the Indian telecom sector is forecasted to peak at $40 billion during the current fiscal as the country presses on to build a network of one billion mobile phones over the next two years, the Telecom Equipment and Services Export Promotion Council has said. Much of these positive effects and growth of the industry were driven by numerous regulatory and policy changes in the country over the last two decades.
The presence of 15 operators scattered around 22 circles, competing for the pie of the customer market share (CMS) and revenue market share (RMS), is currently driving continual change in the telecom industry. The market is already experiencing high pressure on profit margins and slower revenue growth. In addition to this, the market is already battering major issues in regulation and policy stemming from a possible probe into the 2G spectrum scam that a government audit says was awarded too cheaply losing out a mind boggling figure of Rs. 1.76 lakh crore. While the Public Accounts Committee takes care of the spectrum scam, one can only hope that justice prevails and those found guilty are dragged to the court.
In the meanwhile, operator must continue to focus on new business models and bringing radical changes to the products to improve profitability. Given the nature of the competition, mergers and acquisitions in this industry is inevitable. As market penetration reaches a saturation point, competition for existing customer increases. Further the introduction of the mobile number portability (MNP) and 3G services creates challenges for the operators to retain existing customer, while simultaneously focus on bring on new customers. While the 3G service roll outs would depend on the handset penetration, quality of service and network performances in each of the 22 circles, MNP is here to stay and play a huge part in driving the business operations and services of the operators.
Telecom analytics will continue to play a major driver in understanding the customer base. Understanding prior customer behavior helps a company provide offers that are more personalized and attractive, thus increasing customer loyalty. As the market evolves and new products are launched, analysis becomes critical to understand the tariffs, product and service migrations, customer profitability and loyalty. Telecom data is complex. Companies sweat it out to make sense of data from legacy systems, customer service applications, and thousands of product and activity codes. Further, the complexity is added when drilling down to features, add-on tariffs, bundles and packages. Operators, who are focused on analyzing these trends either through self-managed teams or through outsourced analytics group, would benefit the most in understanding the trends in the market.
The foundation for performing complex analysis is thus based on accurate subscriber metrics. Statistical and predictive behavior modeling form the cornerstone for these data analysis. And the factors that one needs to focus to ensure continuous analysis during the new business launch, joint ventures or acquisitions are flexibility to adjust market changes, scalability to handle large volumes and accommodate growth, compatibility to integrate seamlessly, audit ability and vendor knowledge. The proper understanding of these factors and the appropriate means of addressing them will be critical in determining the winners and losers in the marketplace.
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