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 An mobile phone vendor, K Veeramani, arranges handsets in his road-side shop in Chennai on October 30.
Photo: DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images |
BUSINESS Calling India Undisputedly, no other sector saw as much action this year. In February, the Cabinet approved a proposal to increase the foreign direct investment limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in the basic and cellular services telecom industry. Next came the battle between the Wireless in Local Loop service providers (mainly Reliance) and the cellular service providers. WLL firms were restricted from providing roaming services. But Reliance Infocomm, the biggest WLL service provider, went ahead and offered it to its subscribers. In June, Reliance Infocomm announced a mouth watering scheme: it offered mobile phones for a mere Rs 501, literally putting a mobile phone in the grasp of even the lower middle-class! Cellular phone providers who were already jolted by Reliance's extremely low tariff, had moved the Supreme Court, but to little avail. And even as the battle in the Supreme Court between the cellular and the WLL service providers continued, the government decided to end the war by introducing a unified licensing -- a single license for basic, cellular, and WLL service providers. After paying a penalty of Rs 1,580 crores (Rs 15.8 billion), Reliance was allowed to migrate to a unified licensing scheme. The cellular phone operators swallowed their defeat and are now preparing for another round of price war among themselves. 2003 proved that the consumer is truly King in the telecom sector. Text: Priya Ganapati Cabinet approves unified licence Reliance monsoon offer creates frenzy Reliance steamrolls mobile entry barrier Cellular operators accuse WLL of violations Mahajan steps in to resolve telecom battle Reliance's plan to revolutionise mobile services Tatas plan massive expansion
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