Discussion Vodafone might exit India

[Ashok Varma]

None are saints but only some got unfair advantages since it's launch. Can't say who.

How they get advantage? They paid for spectrum along with others. They only the costliest network in India with min rc of Rs 49 for non smart and Rs 98 for smartphones. Still others have only Rs 20+ Rcs for everyone. Vodafone done nothing new, only follows Airtel & Idea like a pug with same tariffs and roaming pacts.

 

[hike]

How they get advantage? They paid for spectrum along with others. They only the costliest network in India with min rc of Rs 49 for non smart and Rs 98 for smartphones. Still others have only Rs 20+ Rcs for everyone. Vodafone done nothing new, only follows Airtel & Idea like a pug with same tariffs and roaming pacts.

Yes that's the point. They never think out of box like Jio just following others.

 

[WizarD]

Vodafone is an established brand in India. Even if the company pulls out, the brand should stay. In Qatar, Vodafone and the Qatar Foundation were partners for the first decade, following which the latter took full control of the Vodafone brand in Qatar in 2018.

It will be a huge loss if the company that gave us ZooZoos and the Vodafone dog decides to leave India. Other European companies like MTS and Telenor tried to establish themselves in India and failed miserably. However Telenor has been very successful in Bangladesh (as Grameenphone) and Pakistan (as Telenor Pakistan). There was also Orange in the early 2000s in Mumbai before it merged with Hutch and later became Vodafone.

Vodafone was the only European telecom brand to be successful in India. I sincerely hope it does not quit.

Most of the big names in Telecom already came and gone - MTS, Telenor, Virgin, AT&T, Orange, Huthinson, Etisalat, Maxis, Docomo.
Axiata and SingTel have presence in India currently.
That leaves only Verizon, Telefonica, T-Mobile, Digicel to try business in India (other than Chinese companies).
All of them will be having a close watch on Indian telecom market and will be cautious.

 

[Ashok Varma]

Great! No need to be sad as most people contributed to this, now if ultimately competition ceases then subscribers will have no options to chose. Entry of new players is unlikely bcoz of current pricing restriction which makes whole business model financially unviable.

Not only in telecom but such excess freebies handed out is not the right way forward for any business. Customers need to act mature to demand quality at affordable price, competition helps attain balance but sadly here disruption route causes more trouble than benefits.

Some people say oh look airtel, vodafone were charging exorbitant amount before entry of Jio and people r now making them realise mistake. Well though i partially agree to 1st part but to make them mend mistakes one should have asked for required offers or discounts but just making them suffer heavy loss will ultimately lead to where we r today.

Anyways it is too late now, most people are not even aware about actual facts hence will not know until pinch is felt themselves. Really hope that if only Jio is singular player left then they continue giving services at nominal rates rather than keeping the bar high to recover losses and enter profit

AVOID/MNCs hates rural India for expanding latest/data networks like Jio. So, finally they paid for their faults!

 

[JollyLNB]

Most of the big names in Telecom already came and gone - MTS, Telenor, Virgin, AT&T, Orange, Huthinson, Etisalat, Maxis, Docomo.
Axiata and SingTel have presence in India currently.
That leaves only Verizon, Telefonica, T-Mobile, Digicel to try business in India (other than Chinese companies).
All of them will be having a close watch on Indian telecom market and will be cautious.

WARNING: Long post.

A brief overview of major global telecom companies and their history in India:

• Vodafone (UK): operates throughout Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific. In India it has a JV with Aditya Birla Group.
• MTS (Russia): closed in 2018. Mostly operates in Russia and ex-Soviet countries.
• Telenor (Norway): closed in 2018, acquired by Airtel. Operates in the Nordics, Pakistan, Bangladesh and SE Asia.
• Virgin Mobile: stopped in 2 years (2011).
• Maxis (Malaysia): exited in 2018 when Aircel shut down.
• Orange (France): confined to Mumbai, merged with Hutch in 2005. Operates throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
• CK Hutchison (Hong Kong): owner of Hutch until 2007 when it became Vodafone. Uses the Three brand.
• NTT Docomo (Japan): exited the JV with Tata Docomo in 2014. Acquired by Airtel in 2018. Confined to Japan.
• AT&T (US): partnership with Tata and Birla groups, renamed to Idea in 2002.
• Etisalat: had a brief presence, quit in 2010. Operates in the Middle East and Africa.

Currently Singtel (Singapore) is an important stakeholder in Airtel as well as other Asia-Pacific telecom companies like Optus (Australia), Telkomsel (Indonesia), Globe (Philippines) and AIS (Thailand).

Axiata (Malaysia) has a very small stake in Vodafone-Idea and does not treat India as one of its markets. It is largely a Southeast Asian company, but it is present in Bangladesh (Robi), Nepal (Ncell) and Sri Lanka (Dialog).

Other important multinational telecom companies include:

• Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) of Germany, which has a huge presence in Europe and the US. It is the second-biggest in Europe after Vodafone.
• SoftBank (Japan), which is known for investing in several companies worldwide and owns the Sprint network in the US.
• Verizon and AT&T (US): American telecom giants increasingly challenged by T-Mobile. They have a very small presence in other countries as far as mobile networks are concerned, but AT&T has a network in Mexico.
• Telefónica (Spain): It owns the Movistar network in Spain and Latin America, as well as the O2 network in the UK and Germany.
• VEON (Russian, but headquartered in the Netherlands): The 4th-largest non-Indian non-Chinese telecom company in the world after América Móvil, Telefónica and MTN (10th overall). It is present in Pakistan (Jazz/Mobilink) and Bangladesh (Banglalink). In Russia and Soviet countries it uses the Beeline brand.
• MTN Group (South Africa): The 3rd-largest non-Indian or Chinese telecom company and 9th overall. It is mostly in Africa, but it is there in Afghanistan as well.

Digicel is too small and confined to the Caribbean. It is not a major global company.

None of these companies, except possibly SoftBank, are likely to enter India.

 

[iDJ]

Most of the big names in Telecom already came and gone - MTS, Telenor, Virgin, AT&T, Orange, Huthinson, Etisalat, Maxis, Docomo.
Axiata and SingTel have presence in India currently.
That leaves only Verizon, Telefonica, T-Mobile, Digicel to try business in India (other than Chinese companies).
All of them will be having a close watch on Indian telecom market and will be cautious.

Telstra has no presence in India either.

 

[Ashok Varma]

A brief history:

• MTS (Russia): closed in 2018.
• Telenor (Norway): closed in 2018, acquired by Airtel.
• Virgin Mobile: stopped in 2 years (2011).
• Orange: confined to Mumbai, merged with Hutch in 2005.
• Hutchinson: owner of Hutch until 2007 when it became Vodafone.

So as per indian telecom dictionary merger means exit or shutdown.
AT&T, MTS, TELENOR, TATA DOCOMO, AIRCEL(MAXIS), RCOM

 

[JollyLNB]

So as per indian telecom dictionary merger means exit or shutdown.
AT&T, MTS, TELENOR, TATA, AIRCEL, RCOM

Indian companies that quit the telecom market are:

• CellOne and Dolphin (brand merged into BSNL and MTNL).
• Aircel (shut down in 2018 and filed for bankruptcy).
• Videocon Telecom (shut down in 2018).
• RCom (shut down in 2019).
• Tata Indicom (shut down in 2010).

International companies that quit include:

• Telenor (Uninor from 2009 to 2015, Telenor from 2015 to 2018). Acquired by Airtel and closed.
• MTS which had a well-known broadband offering.
• Tata Docomo (2008–2019). Acquired by Airtel like Telenor. Shut down this July.
• Orange in Mumbai until 2005. Merged with Hutch which became Vodafone.

 

[iDJ]

AVOID/MNCs hates rural India for expanding latest/data networks like Jio. So, finally they paid for their faults!

One has to be stupid to bring 3G's to villages where most didn't even bother to buy 2G internet. For ₹98 unlimited 2G was more than enough to bargain for in last decade. If there was a market and demand. Sure they would have expanded.

 

[iDJ]

So people complaining about data prices and availability. Did you protest previous prices or made petition to bring services to rural areas? No, then why are you comparing now. Who doesn't want affordable services? Everybody does. Comparing 2010's market in 2019's market is wrong. There were no affordable 3g handsets at that time. Why would operators expand? One has to be blind to not see the monopoly one single operator is creating with help from certain bodies. You can suck up today but will suffer in long run when we run out of options.