Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

BSNL Mobile

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

(known as BSNL, India Communications Corporation
Limited) is a state-owned telecommunication company in
India. BSNL is the sixth largest cellular service provider,
with over 57.22 million customers as of December 2009
and the largest land line telephone provider in India. Its
headquarters are at Bharat Sanchar Bhawan, Harish
Chandra Mathur Lane, Janpath, New Delhi. It has the status
of Mini Ratna, a status assigned to reputed public sector
companies in India.

BSNL is India's oldest and largest Communication Service

Provider (CSP).[citation needed] Currently has a customer base of
90 million as of June 2008.[3] It has footprints throughout
India except for the metropolitan cities of Mumbai and
New Delhi which are managed by MTNL. As on March 31,
2008 BSNL commanded a customer base of 31.55 million
Wireline, 4.58 million CDMA-WLL and 54.21 million

1
GSM Mobile subscribers. BSNL's earnings for the
Financial Year ending March 31, 2009 stood at INR
397.15b (US$7.03 billion) with net profit of INR 78.06b
(US$ 1.90 billion). BSNL has an estimated market value of
$ 100 Billion. The company is planning an IPO with in 6
months to offload 10% to public in the Rs 300-400 range
valuing the company at over $100 billion.

Services

BSNL provides almost every telecom service in India.

Following are the main telecom services provided by
BSNL:

• Universal Telecom Services : Fixed wireline services

& Wireless in Local loop (WLL) using CDMA
Technology called bfone and Tarang respectively. As
of December 31, 2007, BSNL has 81% marketshare of
fixed lines.

• Cellular Mobile Telephone Services: BSNL is major

provider of Cellular Mobile Telephone services using
GSM platform under the brand name BSNL Mobile[4].

2
 As of Sep 30, 2009 BSNL has 12.45% share of mobile
telephony in the country[5].

• Internet: BSNL provides internet services through

dial-up connection (Sancharnet) as Prepaid, (NetOne)
as Postpaid and ADSL broadband (BSNL Broadband).
BSNL has around 50% market share in broadband in
India. BSNL has planned aggressive rollout in
broadband for current financial year.

• Intelligent Network (IN): BSNL provides IN services

like televoting, toll free calling, premium calling etc.

• 3G:BSNL offers the '3G' or the'3rd Generation'

services which includes facilities like video calling
etc.

• IPTV:BSNL also offers the 'Internet Protocol

Television' facility which enables us to watch
television through internet.

3
 • FTTH:Fibre To The Home facility that offers a higher
bandwidth for data transfer.This idea was proposed on
post-December 2009.

Administrative units

BSNL is divided into a number of administrative units,

termed as telecom circles, metro districts, project circles
and specialized units, as mentioned below:

Maintenance Regions Jharkhand Telecom Circle Eastern

Telecom Maintenance Region Karnataka Telecom Circle
Telecom Circles Metro Districts Andaman & Nicobar
Telecom Circle Calcutta Andhra Pradesh Telecom Circle
Chennai Assam Telecom Circle

Project Circles Bihar Telecom Circle Eastern Telecom

Project Circle Chhattisgarh Telecom Circle Western
Telecom Project Circle Gujarat Telecom Circle Northern
Telecom Project Circle Haryana Telecom Circle Southern
Telecom Project Circle Himachal Pradesh Telecom Circle
IT Project Circle, Pune Jammu & Kashmir Telecom Circle

4
Maintenance Regions Jharkhand Telecom Circle Eastern
Telecom Maintenance Region Karnataka Telecom Circle
Western Telecom Maintenance Region Kerala Telecom
Circle Northern Telecom Maintenance Region Madhya
Pradesh Telecom Circle Southern Telecom Maintenance
Region Maharashtra Telecom Circle Specialized Telecom
Units North East-I Telecom Circle Data Networks North
East-II Telecom Circle National Centre For Electronic
Switching Orissa Telecom Circle Technical &
Development Circle Punjab Telecom Circle Quality
Assurance Rajasthan Telecom Circle

Production Units Telecom Factory, Mumbai Telecom

Factory, Jabalpur Telecom Factory, Richhai Telecom
Factory, Kolkata

Other Units Training Institutions Telecom Stores Advanced

Level Telecom Training Centre North East Task Force
Bharat Ratna Bhim Rao Ambedkar Institute Of Telecom
Training Telecom Electrical Wing National Academy of
Telecom Finance and Management Telecom Civil Wing

5
Regional Telecom Training Centres Circle Telecom
Training Centres District Telecom Training Centres

Present and future

BSNL (then known as Department of Telecom) had been a

near monopoly during the socialist period of the Indian
economy. During this period, BSNL was the only telecom
service provider in the country (MTNL was present only in
Mumbai and New Delhi). During this period BSNL
operated as a typical state-run organization, inefficient,
slow, bureaucratic, and heavily uinionised. As a result
subscribers had to wait for as long as five years to get a
telephone connection.The corporation tasted competition
for the first time after the liberalisation of Indian economy
in 1991. Faced with stiff competition from the private
telecom service providers, BSNL has subsequently tried to
increase efficiencies itself. DoT veterans, however, put the
onus for the sorry state of affairs on the Government
policies, where in all state-owned service providers were
required to function as mediums for achieving egalitarian
growth across all segments of the society. The corporation

6
(then DoT), however, failed miserably to achieve this and
India languished among the most poorly connected
countries in the world. BSNL was born in 2000 after the
corporatisation of DoT. The efficiency of the company has
since improved. However, the performance level is
nowhere near the private players. The corporation remains
heavily unionised and is comparatively slow in decision
making and implementation. Though it offers services at
lowest tariffs, the private players continue to notch up
better numbers in all areas, years after year. BSNL has been
providing connections in both urban and rural areas. Pre-
activated Mobile connections are available at many places
across India. BSNL has also unveiled cost-effective
broadband internet access plans (DataOne) targeted at
homes and small businesses. At present BSNL enjoy's
around 60% of market share of ISP services.[6]

Year of Broadband 2007

2007 has been declared as "Year of Broadband" in India

and BSNL is in the process of providing 5 million
Broadband connectivity by the end of 2007. BSNL has

7
upgraded existing Dataone (Broadband) connections for a
speed of up to 2 Mbit/s without any extra cost. This 2
Mbit/s broadband service is being provided by BSNL at a
cost of just US$ 11.7 per month (as of 21/07/2008 and at a
limit of 2.5GB monthly limit with 0200-0800 hrs as no
charge period). Further, BSNL is rolling out new
broadband services such as triple play.
BSNL is planning to increase its customer base to 108
million customers by 2010. With the frantic activity in the
communication sector in India, the target appears
achievable.
BSNL is a pioneer of rural telephony in India. BSNL has
recently bagged 80% of US$ 580 m (INR 2,500 crores)
Rural Telephony project of Government of India.[7]

On the 20th of March, 2009, BSNL advertised the launch

of BlackBerry services across its Telecom circles in India.
The corporation has also launched 3G services in select
cities across the country. Presently, BSNL and MTNL are
the only players to provide 3G services, as the Government

8
is still in the process of auctioning the 3G spectrum to
private players.

BSNL has also launched a Entertainment Portal called

BSNL Hungama Portal from where subscribers could
download contents like music, music videos for free and
also download or play various games online. Only
Tamil,Kannada,Telugu & Hindi are provided at present.
Hopes are there that the database could be expanded. BSNL
charges a fixed monthly subscription fee for this function.

Challenges

During the financial year 2006-2007 (from April 1, 2006 to

March 31, 2007) BSNL has added 9.6 million new
customers in various telephone services taking its customer
base to 64.8 million. BSNL's nearest competitor Bharti
Airtel is standing at a customer base of 39 million.
However, despite impressive growth shown by BSNL in
recent times, the Fixed line customer base of BSNL is
declining. In order to woo back its fixed-line customers
BSNL has brought down long distance calling rate under

9
One India plan, however, the success of the scheme is not
known. However, BSNL faces bleak fiscal 2006-2007 as
users flee, which has been accepted by the CMD BSNL.[8]

Presently there is an intense competition in Indian Telecom

sector and various Telcos are rolling out attractive schemes
and are providing good customer services.

Access Deficit Charges (ADC, a levy being paid by the

private operators to BSNL for provide service in non-
lucrative areas especially rural areas) has been slashed by
37% by TRAI, w.e.f. April 1, 2007. The reduction in ADC
may hit the bottomlines of BSNL.

BSNL launched 3G services in 11 cities of country in 2nd

march 2009.MTNL which operates in Mumbai and Delhi
first launched 3G services in these cities.

10
Vodafone

Vodafone's original logo, used until the introduction of the

speechmark logo in 1997

Vodafone Group plc (LSE: VOD, NASDAQ: VOD) is a

British multinational mobile network operator
headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire, United Kingdom.
Vodafone is the world's largest mobile telecommunication
network company, based on revenue, and has a market
value of about £71.2 billion (November 2009). It currently
has operations in 31 countries and partner networks in a
further 40 countries.[3] Based on subscribers, it is the
world's second largest mobile phone operator behind China
Mobile, with over 427 million subscribers in 31 markets
across 5 continents as of 2009. In the UK, its home ground,
Vodafone has badly underperformed in the last few years

11
due to brisk change in administration. It has slipped from
first to third largest telecom operator generating a revenue
of 4.9 billion from its 18.7 million customers in 2008-09.[5]
As of March 31, 2009, the company employs more than
79,000 people worldwide.

The name Vodafone comes from voice data fone, chosen

by the company to "reflect the provision of voice and data
services over mobile phones".

Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, the largest

wireless telecommunications network in the United States,
based on number of subscribers.

It is listed on the London Stock Exchange, where it is a

constituent of the FTSE 100 index. Previously Vodafone
was listed on New York Stock Exchange, but later it
indented to transfer the listing of its American Depositary
Receipts, each representing ten ordinary shares of its
company, from NYSE to NASDAQ. Although it would
keep listing its debt securities on NYSE.

12
Vodafone Group

In 1982 Racal Electronics plc's subsidiary Racal Strategic

Radio Ltd. won one of two UK cellular telephone network
licences; the other going to British Telecom The network,
known as Racal Vodafone was 80% owned by Racal, with
Millicom and the Hambros Technology Trust owning 15%
and 5% respectively. Vodafone was launched on 1 January
1985. Racal Strategic Radio was renamed Racal
Telecommunications Group Limited in 1985. On 29
December 1986, Racal Electronics bought out the minority
shareholders of Vodafone for GB£110 million.

In September 1988, the company was again renamed Racal

Telecom, and on 26 October 1988, Racal Electronics
floated 20% of the company. The flotation valued Racal
Telecom at GB£1.7 billion. On 16 September 1991, Racal
Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics as
Vodafone Group.

In July 1996, Vodafone acquired the two thirds of Talkland

it did not already own for 30.6 million. On 19 November

13
1996, in a defensive move, Vodafone purchased Peoples
Phone for 77 million, a 181 store chain whose customers
were overwhelmingly using Vodafone's network. In a
similar move the company acquired the 80% of Astec
Communications that it did not own, a service provider
with 21 stores.

In 1997, Vodafone introduced its Speechmark logo, as it is

a quotation mark in a circle; the O's in the Vodafone
logotype are opening and closing quotation marks,
suggesting conversation.

On 29 June 1999, Vodafone completed its purchase of

AirTouch Communications, Inc. and changed its name to
Vodafone Airtouch plc. Trading of the new company
commenced on 30 June 1999. To approve the merger,
Vodafone sold its 17.2% stake in E-Plus Mobilfunk. The
acquisition gave Vodafone a 35% share of Mannesmann,
owner of the largest German mobile network.

On 21 September 1999, Vodafone agreed to merge its U.S.

wireless assets with those of Bell Atlantic Corp to form

14
Verizon Wireless. The merger was completed on 4 April
2000.

In November 1999, Vodafone made an unsolicited bid for

Mannesmann, which was rejected. Vodafone's interest in
Mannesmann had been increased by the latter purchase of
Orange, the UK mobile operator. Chris Gent would later
say Mannesmann's move into the UK broke a "gentleman's
agreement" not to compete in each others home territory.
The hostile takeover provoked strong protest in Germany,
and a "titanic struggle" which saw Mannesmann resist
Vodafone's efforts. However, on 3 February 2000, the
Mannesmann board agreed to an increased offer of 112bn,
then the largest corporate merger ever. The EU approved
the merger in April 2000. The conglomerate was
subsequently broken up and all manufacturing related
operations sold off.

On 28 July 2000, the Company reverted to its former name,

Vodafone Group plc. In April 2001, the first 3G voice call
was made on Vodafone United Kingdom's 3G network.

15
 Vodafone in Iasi, Romania

A map showing Vodafone Global Enterprise' footprint.

Vodafone Operating Countries Vodafone's partners
and affiliates

In 2001, the Company took over Eircell, then part of

eircom in Ireland, and rebranded it as Vodafone Ireland. It
then went on to acquire Japan's third-largest mobile
operator J-Phone, which had introduced camera phones
first in Japan.

On 17 December 2001, Vodafone introduced the concept of

"Partner Networks", by signing TDC Mobil of Denmark.
The new concept involved the introduction of Vodafone
international services to the local market, without the need
of investment by Vodafone. The concept would be used to
extend the Vodafone brand and services into markets where
it does not have stakes in local operators. Vodafone

16
services would be marketed under the dual-brand scheme,
where the Vodafone brand is added at the end of the local
brand. (i.e., TDC Mobil-Vodafone etc.)

Vodafone Global Enterprise

Global Enterprise is a business set up by Vodafone with the

sole purpose of handling Vodafone's multinational clients.
It is the high end business to business (B2B) section of
Vodafone Group, and acts like an operating country (such
as for example Vodafone UK). Devices and services
available in any operating country, are available to Global
Enterprise customers in the same country, and so Vodafone
Global Enterprise are able to offer a wide range of
products. Vodafone Global Enterprise have a presence in
over 65 countries, and this number is expected to grow in
future, as with the recent acquisition of Ghana Telecom.
Since its foundation in 2007, Global Enterprise has aimed
to be a world leader in managed mobility services.
Vodafone Global Enterprise are headquartered in Newbury,
but have operatives around the world; while many of

17
Vodafone's marketing employees are relocated to London,
Global Enterprise' team will remain in Newbury.

Nick Jeffery leads Vodafone Global Enterprise. He led the

creation of Vodafone Global Enterprise in 2007, and
continues to define the strategy and operational execution
for Vodafone's relationship with multi-national corporate
customers. Global Enterprise have a dedicated group of
account managers, at both global and national levels, who
look after customers needs, and are supported by pre-sales
and technical consultancy teams.

Products and Services include: Enterprise Central,

Telecomms Management, Global Device Portfolio and
Managed Mobility Services. In 2009, Vodafone Global
Enterprise was the winner of Best Mobile Enterprise
Service at the GSMA Global Mobile Awards 2009.

18
 Aircel
.

Aircel is a mobile phone service provider in India. It offers

both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage
throughout India. Aircel is a joint venture between Maxis
Communications of Malaysia and Apollo Hospital
Enterprise Ltd of India. Maxis has a 74% stake in Aircel
and the remaining 26% is with Apollo Hospitals. It is
India’s fifth largest GSM mobile service provider with a
subscriber base of over 27.7 million, as of October 31,
2009. It has a market share of 12.8% among the GSM
operators in the country. As on date, Aircel is present in 18
of the total 23 telecom circles (including Andhra Pradesh,
Assam, Bihar & Jharkhand, Chennai, Delhi & NCR,
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala,
Kolkata, Mumbai, North East, Orissa, Rest of Maharashtra
& Goa, Rest of Tamil Nadu, Rest of West Bengal, Uttar
Pradesh East, Uttar Pradesh West) and with licences
secured for the remaining 5 telecom circles, the company

19
plans to become a pan-India operator by 2010.
Additionally, Aircel has also obtained permission from
Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to provide
International Long Distance (ILD) and National Long
Distance (NLD) telephony services. It is also a category A
ISP. It is also having the largest service in Tamilnadu.

Aircel Business Solutions (ABS), part of Aircel, is an ISO

9000 certified company. ABS is a registered member of
WiMAX forum – both in the Indian and International
Chapters. ABS’ product range includes enterprise solutions
such as Multiprotocol Label Switching Virtual Private
Networks (MPLS VPNs), Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) and Managed Video Services on wireless platform
including WiMAX.

Aircel has won many awards for its services. Aircel was
honored at the World Brand Congress 2009 with three
awards, Brand Leadership in Telecom, Marketing
Campaign & Marketing Professional of the Year. Aircel
was honored by CMAI INFOCOM National Telecom
Award 2009 for, ‘Excellence in Marketing of New

20
Telecom Service’. Aircel had been selected as the best
regional operator in 2008 by Tele.net. Aircel was rated as
the top mid-size utility company in Business World’s ‘List
of Best Mid-Size Companies’ in 2007. Aircel got the
highest rating for overall customer satisfaction and network
quality in 2006 by Voice and Data.

Aircel is one of the sponsors of the Indian Premier League

Cricket Team Chennai Super Kings, which is captained by
Mahendra Singh Dhoni. It is also the major sponsors for
Chennai Open (the only ATP tennis tournament in India),
and Professional Golf Tour of India.

In latest news, Maxis, Aircel's majority stake holder, raised

RM11.2 billions (USD 3.36 billions)for its shareholders,
making it the largest IPO in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Aircel boat. Aircel, placed an actual dinghy lifeboat to a

downtown billboard. A rope with a sign reading, “In case
of emergency, cut rope”, held up the branded raft. July 15,
2009 the monsoon arrived and so did Aircel customer
service. The dinghy was cut down and pedestrians were

21
safely transported. What Aircel calls “Corporate Social
Responsibility – A Solution”. The company was able to
generate positive publicity and show consumers that they
care.

22
 Bharti Airtel

Bharti Airtel (BSE: 532454) formerly known as Bharti

Tele-Ventures LTD (BTVL) is the largest cellular service
provider in India, with more than 110 million subscribers as
of 2009.[2] With this, Bharti is now the world's third-largest,
single-country mobile operator and sixth-largest integrated
telecom operator. It also offers fixed line services and
broadband services. It offers its TELECOM services under
the Airtel brand and is headed by Sunil Bharti Mittal. The
company also provides telephone services and broadband
Internet access (DSL) in top 95 cities in India. It also acts
as a carrier for national and international long distance
communication services. The company has a submarine
cable landing station at Chennai, which connects the
submarine cable connecting Chennai and Singapore.

The businesses at Bharti Airtel have always been structured

into three individual strategic business units (SBU's) -
Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise

23
Services. The mobile business provides mobile & fixed
wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom
circles while the Airtel Telemedia Services business offers
broadband & telephone services in 95 cities and has
recently launched a Direct-to-Home (DTH) service, Airtel
Digital TV. Shahrukh Khan is the brand embassador of the
mobile company and Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan
are the brand embassadors of the DTH company. The
company provides end-to-end data and enterprise services
to the corporate customers through its nationwide fiber
optic backbone, last mile connectivity in fixed-line and
mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and international bandwidth
access through the gateways and landing station.[3]

Globally, Bharti Airtel is the 3rd largest in-country mobile

operator by subscriber base, behind China Mobile and
China Unicom. In India, the company has a 24.6% share of
the wireless services market, followed by 17.7% for
Reliance Communications and 17.4% for Vodafone Essar.
[4]
In January 2010, company anonced that Manoj Kohli,
Joint Managing Director and current Chief Executive

24
Officer of Indian and South Asian operations, will become
the Chief Executive Officer of the International Business
Group from 1st April 2010. He will be overseeing Bharti's
overseas business. Current Dy. CEO, Sanjay Kapoor, will
replace Manoj Kohli and will be the CEO with effective
from 1st April, 2010.

25
 Airtel

Airtel is a brand of telecommunication services in India,

Bangladesh and in Sri Lanka owned and operated by Bharti
Airtel. It is the largest cellular service provider in India in
terms of number of subscribers. Services are offered under
the brand name Airtel: Mobile Services (using GSM
Technology), Broadband & Telephone Services (Fixed line,
Internet Connectivity(DSL) and Leased Line), Long
Distance Services and Enterprise Services
(Telecommunications Consulting for corporates). It has
presence in all 23 circles of the country and covers 71% of
the current population (as of Financial Year 2007). Airtel
has also launched 16Mb/s broadband plans in India,
making it the first ISP to do so.

Airtel Sri Lanka

In December 2008, Bharti Airtel rolled out third generation

services in Sri Lanka in association with Singapore

26
Telecommunications. SingTel is a major player in the 3G
space in Asia. It operates third generation networks in
several markets across Asia.

Airtel's operation in Sri Lanka, known as Airtel Lanka,

commenced operations on the 12th of January 2009.

Airtel in Bangladesh

In January 2010, it was announced that the Bangladesh

Telecommuncations Regulatrory Commission (BTRC) of
The People's Republic of Bangladesh had given Bharti
Airtel the go ahead to acquire a 70% stake in the
Bangladesh business of Abu Dhabi based Warid Telcom.
The latter had till date invested a total of $600 million, with
plans to bring their Bangladesh investments to the $1
billion mark. Airtel's 70% stake in the company is said to
be at a cost of an initial $300 million.

Touchtel

Until September 18, 2004, Bharti provided fixed-line

telephony and broadband services under the Touchtel

27
brand. Bharti now provides all telecom services including
fixed-line services under a common brand "Airtel".

BlackBerry

On 19 October 2004 Airtel announced the launch of a

BlackBerry Wireless Solution in India. The launch is a
result of a tie-up between Bharti Tele-Ventures Limited and
Research In Motion (RIM).

Digital TV
Main article: Airtel Digital Tv

On 9 October 2008, Airtel joined the DTH bandwagon in

India with Airtel Digital TV, a Direct-to-Home Television
service.

iPhone 3G

The Apple iPhone 3G was rolled out in India on 22 August

2008 via Airtel & Vodafone.

28
Merger talks

In May 2008, it emerged that Bharti Airtel was exploring

the possibility of buying the MTN Group, a South Africa-
based telecommunications company with coverage in 21
countries in Africa and the Middle East. The Financial
Times reported that Bharti was considering offering US$45
billion for a 100% stake in MTN, which would be the
largest overseas acquisition ever by an Indian firm.
However, both sides emphasize the tentative nature of the
talks, while The Economist magazine noted, "If anything,
Bharti would be marrying up," as MTN has more
subscribers, higher revenues and broader geographic
coverage.[7] However, the talks fell apart as MTN group
tried to reverse the negotiations by making Bharti almost a
subsidiary of the new company.

In May 2009, Bharti Airtel again confirmed that it is in

Talks with MTN and companies have now agreed discuss
the potential transaction exclusively by July 31, 2009.[9]
Bharti Airtel said in a statement “Bharti Airtel Ltd is

29
pleased to announce that it has renewed its effort for a
significant partnership with MTN Group".

Talks eventually ended without agreement, some sources

stating that due to the South African government
opposition.[11]

Sponsorship

Bharti Airtel signed a five-year deal with ESPN Star Sports

to become the title sponsor of the Champions League
Twenty20 cricket tournament. The tournament itself is
named "Airtel Champions League Twenty20." [12]

Airtel 3G

Airtel plans to launch the nationwide 3G services in India

in the second quarter of 2010.

Asia-Pacific

Networks in Asia-Pacific
Majority- Minority- No Ownership

30
 owned owned
China
Australia Afghanistan Armenia
mainland
India Fiji Azerbaijan Hong Kong
New Zealand India Japan Malaysia
Samoa Singapore
Sri Lanka Taiwan
Thailand Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
In July 1993, BellSouth New Zealand's network went live,
and October 1993 Vodafone Australia's network also went
live. This was followed in July 1994 by Vodafone Fiji's
network going live.

In November 1998, Vodafone purchased BellSouth New

Zealand, which later became Vodafone New Zealand. In
1999, J-Phone launched the J-sky mobile internet service in
response to DoCoMo's i-Mode service. In December, 2002
J-Phone's 3G network went live.

On 1 October 2003, J-Phone became 'Vodafone', and J-

Phone's mobile internet service J-Sky became Vodafone
Live!. On 3 November 2003, Singapore became a part of
the community as M1 was signed as partner network.

31
In December 2004, Vodafone Australia agreed to deploy
high-speed MPLS backbone network built by Lucent
Worldwide Services using Juniper hardware.

Then in April 2005, SmarTone changed the name of its

brand to 'SmarTone-Vodafone', after both companies
signed a Partner Network Agreement. In August 2005,
Vodafone launched 3G technology in New Zealand, and in
October 2005, it began launching 3G technology in
Australia. On 28 October 2005, the Company announced
the acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in India's Bharti
Televentures, which operates the largest mobile phone
network in India under the brand name AirTel. On 22
December 2005, the Company announced the completion
of the acquisition of the 10% stake in Bharti Televentures
of India.

In January 2006, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka were

added to the Vodafone footprint as Vodafone Group signed
a partner network agreement with Telekom Malaysia. On
17 March 2006, Vodafone announced an agreement to sell
all its interest in Vodafone Japan to SoftBank for £8.9

32
billion, of which £6.8 billion will be received in cash on
closing of deal. Vodafone Japan later changed its name to
SoftBank Mobile. On 9 October 2006, Vodafone New
Zealand bought New Zealand's 3rd largest internet service
provider, iHug, and on 1 November 2006, Vodafone
Australia signed the Australian Football League (AFL)'s
biggest individual club sponsorship deal with the Brisbane
Lions for seasons 2007, 2008 and 2009.

On 6 February 2007, along with the partnership with

Digicel Caribbean (see below), Samoa was added as a
Partner Market. Then on 11 February 2007, the Company
agreed to acquire a controlling interest of 67% in Hutchison
Essar Limited for US$11.1 billion. At the same time, it
agreed to sell back 5.6% of its AirTel stake back to the
Mittals. Vodafone would retain a 4.4% stake in AirTel. On
21 September 2007, Hutch was rebranded to Vodafone in
India.

On 6 February 2007, Vodafone Group signed a three-year

partnership agreement with Digicel Group. The agreement,
which includes Digicel's sister operation in Samoa, will

33
result to the offering of new roaming capabilities. The two
groups will also become preferred roaming partners of each
other. Along with Digicel's markets, the Vodafone brand is
now present in 81 countries, regions, and territories. What
is interesting to note, is that as well as being partners,
Digicel and Vodafone are also rival operators in Fiji, where
Digicel Fiji recently launched, and Vodafone owns a
minority (49%) stake in Vodafone Fiji.

On 10 February 2008, Vodafone announced the launching

of M-Paisa mobile money transfer service on Roshan's
(Afghanistan's largest GSM operator) network: Afghanistan
was added to the Vodafone footprint.

On 5 September 2008, Vodafone purchased Australia's

largest bricks and mortar mobile phone retailer Crazy
John's adding 115 retail stores to its local operations.

On 9 February 2009, Vodafone announced a merger with

3/Hutchison via a joint venture company VHA Pty Ltd,
which would offer products under the Vodafone brand. dtac

34
in Thailand is signed as a partner network of the Group on
25 March 2009.

On 19 June 2009, Vodafone-Hutchison Australia (VHA)

announced the end of its outsourcing of retail operations.
VHA committed to buying back and managing its entire
retail operation, including 208 Vodafone-branded retail
outlets Australia-wide. This project is slated to be
completed by 1 September 2009.

Nar Mobile in Azerbaijan was signed as a Partner Network

on 22 July 2009, while Chunghwa Telecom of Taiwan was
signed on 12 November 2009.

Africa and the Middle East

Networks in the Middle East and Africa

Minority- No
Majority-owned
owned Ownership
1
DR Congo Egypt Kenya Kuwait
Ghana Lesotho1 Bahrain
Mozambique1 Qatar2 UAE
Tanzania1 South

35
 Africa1
1
Majority stakes held through majority-owned Vodacom
Group
2
Effective ownership is not majority, but full control
exercised by the group.
Egypt

In November 1998, Vodafone Egypt network went live

under the name ClickGSM.

On 8 November 2006, the Company announced a deal with

Telecom Egypt, resulting in further co-operation in the
Egyptian market, and increasing its stake in Vodafone
Egypt. After the deal, Vodafone Egypt was 55% owned by
the group, while the remaining 45% was owned by
Telecom Egypt.

Kuwait

On 18 September 2002, Vodafone signed a Partner

Network Agreement with MTC group of Kuwait. The
agreement involved the rebranding of MTC to MTC-
Vodafone. On 29 December 2003, Vodafone signed

36
another Partner Network Agreement with Kuwait's MTC
group. The second agreement involved co-operation in
Bahrain and the branding of the network as MTC-
Vodafone.

South Africa (Vodacom)

On 3 November 2004, the Company announced that its

South African affiliate Vodacom had agreed to introduce
Vodafone's international services, such as Vodafone live!
and partner agreements, to its local market.

In November 2005, Vodafone announced that it was in

exclusive talks to buy a 15% stake of VenFin in Vodacom
Group, reaching agreement the following day. Vodafone
and Telkom then had a 50% stake each in Vodacom.
Vodafone now owns 65% of Vodacom after purchasing a
15% stake from Telkom.

On 9 October 2008, the company offered to acquire an

additional 15 per cent stake in Vodacom group from

37
Telkom. The finalised details of the agreement were
announced on 6 November 2008. The agreement called for
Telkom to sell 15 per cent of its 50 per cent stake in
Vodacom to the group, and demerge the other 35 per cent
to its shareholder. Meanwhile, Vodafone has agreed to
make Vodacom its exclusive sub-Saharan Africa
investment vehicle, as well as continuing to maintain the
visibility of the Vodacom brand. The transaction is closed
in May/June 2009.

On 18 May 2009, Vodacom entered the JSE Limited stock

exchange in South Africa after Vodafone increased its stake
by 15% to 65% to take a majority holding, despite disputes
by local trade unions.

Ghana

In December 2007, a Vodafone Group-led consortium was

awarded the second mobile phone licence in Qatar, and on
3 July 2008, Vodafone agreed to acquire a 70% stake in
Ghana Telecom for $900 million. The acquisition was
consummated on 17 August 2008. The same group-led

38
consortium won the second fixed-line licence in Qatar on
15 September 2008.

On 15 April 2009, Ghana Telecom, along with its mobile

subsidiary onetouch, was rebranded as Vodafone Ghana.

U.A.E.

On 28 January 2009, the group announced a partner

network agreement with Du, the second-largest operator of
the United Arab Emirates. The agreement involved co-
operation on international clients, handset procurement,
mobile broadband etc.

The Americas

Networks in the Americas

Minority-
No Ownership
owned
1 2
Antigua &
USA Anguilla Aruba2 Barbados2
Barbuda2
2 2 3
Cayman
Bermuda Bonaire Canada
Islands2
French West
Chile4 Curaçao2 Dominica2
Indies2
Grenada2 Guyana2 Haiti2 Honduras2

39
 2 2
St. Kitts &
Jamaica Panama St. Lucia2
Nevis2
St. Vincent & Trinidad & Turk &
the Grenadines2 Tobago2 Caicos2
1
– Verizon Wireless
2
– Digicel (Partner)
3
–?
4
– Entel PCS (Partner)
For more information, see Verizon Wireless.

In the United States, Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon

Wireless, the country's largest mobile carrier after their
merger with Alltel. The percentage of the customer base,
and revenues of Verizon Wireless that Vodafone
consolidates is slightly lower, since some Verizon Wireless
subsidiaries have minority investors. (Hence the exact
percentages that Vodafone and Verizon report vary from
period to period: in June 2006 Vodafone reported that
Verizon Wireless owned 98.6% of its customers at that
date.) Before this joint venture was formed, Vodafone
merged with AirTouch Communications of the U.S. in June
1999, and changed its name to Vodafone Airtouch plc. In
September 1999, Vodafone Airtouch announced a $70-

40
billion joint venture with Bell Atlantic Corp. Verizon
Wireless was composed of Bell Atlantic's and Vodafone
AirTouch's U.S. wireless assets, and began operations on 4
April 2000. However, Verizon Communications - the
company formed when Bell Atlantic and GTE merged on
30 June 2000 - owns a majority of Verizon Wireless, and
Vodafone's branding is not used, nor is the CDMA network
compatible with GSM phones. This relationship has been
quite profitable for Vodafone, but there have historically
been three problems with it. The first is the above-
mentioned incompatibility with the GSM 900/1800 MHz
standard used by Vodafone's other networks, and the
consequent difficulty of offering roaming between
Vodafone's U.S. and other networks. The other two stem
from the fact that Vodafone does not have management
control over Verizon Wireless. Vodafone is thus unable to
use the Vodafone brand for its U.S. operations, and
(perhaps more importantly) has no control of dividend
policy at Verizon Wireless, and is therefore entirely at the
mercy of Verizon management with respect to cash flow
from Verizon Wireless.

41
Perhaps as a consequence of these reasons, Vodafone made
a bid for the entirety of AT&T Wireless when that
company was for sale in 2004. Had this bid been
successful, Vodafone would presumably have sold its stake
in Verizon Wireless, and then rebranded the resultant
business as Vodafone. However, Cingular Wireless, at the
time a joint venture of SBC Communications and
BellSouth (both now part of AT&T), ultimately outbid
Vodafone and took control of AT&T Wireless (the
combined wireless carrier is now AT&T Mobility), and
Vodafone's relationship with Verizon has continued.

Early in 2006, Verizon re-iterated their desire to buy out

the remaining 45% of stock of Verizon Wireless from
Vodafone Group. Vodafone has also repeatedly indicated
that it would be willing to buy out Verizon's stake.

Verizon has announced that its 4G data network will be

LTE, which is considered part of the GSM path and not the
CDMA2000 path Verizon has been using; it has been
suggested[who?] this is to appease Vodafone, which uses
GSM on its own networks.

42
On 11 May 2008, Vodafone sealed a trade agreement with
the Chilean Entel PCS Chile, in which Entel PCS has
access to the equipment and international services of
Vodafone, and Vodafone will be one of the trademarks of
Entel for the wireless business. This step will give the
Vodafone brand access to a market of over 15 million
people, currently divided among three companies:
Telefonica Movistar, Claro, and Entel PCS.

Mobile Money Transfer Service

In March 2007, Safaricom, which is part owned by

Vodafone and the leading mobile communication provider
in Kenya, launched a mobile payment solution developed
by Vodafone.[35] M-PESA is aimed at mobile customers
who do not have a bank account, typically because they do
not have access to a bank or their income is insufficient to
justify a bank account. The M-PESA system allows
customers to deposit and withdraw cash via local agents,
and transfer money to other mobile phone users via SMS.

43
By February 2008, the M-PESA money transfer system in
Kenya had gained 1.6 million customers[36] and Vodafone
announced that it was to extend the service to Afghanistan.
The service here was launched on the Roshan network
under the brand M-Paisa with a different focus to the
Kenyan service. M-Paisa was targeted as a vehicle for
microfinance institutions' (MFI) loan disbursements and
repayments, alongside business to business applications
such as salary disbursement.

The Afghanistan launch was followed in April 2008 by the

announcement of further a further launch of M-PESA in
Tanzania. As an operator of money transmission services,
Vodafone became subject to anti-money laundering
regulation and in July 2008, it was revealed that it had
deployed a sanctions and PEP (Politically Exposed
Persons) screening solution from Datanomic for weekly
screening of 2.5 million customers in Tanzania.[38] The
screening service was to be rolled out to Afghanistan,
Kenya, India and Datanomic disclosed that the solution

44
might be used to screen all of Vodafone's 300 million
customers globally.

Chief Executives

In a period just short of twenty years from its initial public

offering, the Company had had just three Chief Executives.
The fourth CEO, Vittorio Colao, stepped up from Deputy
Chief Executive in July 2008. Each of his predecessors
made a personal contribution to the development of the
Company.

Sir Gerald Whent, at that time an Executive with Racal

Electronics plc, was responsible for the bid for a UK
Cellular Network licence. The Mobile Telecoms division
was de-merged, and was floated on the London Stock
Exchange in October 1988 and Sir Gerald became Chief
Executive of Racal Telecom plc. Over the next few years
the company grew to become the UK's Market Leader,
changing its name to Vodafone Group plc in the process.

Sir Christopher Gent took over as Chief Executive in

January 1997, after Sir Gerald's retirement. Sir Christopher

45
was responsible for transforming Vodafone from a small
UK operator into the global behemoth that it is today,
through the merger with the American AirTouch and the
takeover of Germany's Mannesmann.

Arun Sarin was the driving force behind the Company's

move into emerging markets such as Asia and Africa,
through the purchases such as that of Turkish operator
Telsim, and a majority stake in Hutchison Essar in India.
Faced with increased competition, and penetration rates
above 100% in the more mature European markets, he saw
it necessary to diversify from being a mobile-only business
into a company which provided all telecommunications
services. This has seen Vodafone launch DSL and other
fixed-line services in markets such as Germany and the
UK.

Financial results

Vodafone reportes its results in accordance with

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

46
Vodafone has some large minority stakes, which are not
included in its consolidated turnover. In order to provide
additional information on the overall scale and growth
trends of its business, it publishes "proportionate turnover"
figures, and these are included in the tables below. For
example, if a business in which it owns a 45% stake has
turnover of £10 billion, that equals £4.5 billion of
proportionate turnover for Vodafone. Proportionate
turnover is not an official accounting measure, and
Vodafone's proportionate turnover should be compared
with other companies' statutory turnover.

Vodafone also produces proportionate customer number

figures on a similar basis, eg. if an operator in which it has
a 30% stake has 10 million customers that equals 3 million
proportionate Vodafone customers. This is a common
practice in the mobile telecommunications industry.

47
Year Profit Profit for Basic
Turnover Proportionate
ended 31 before the year eps
£m customers (m)
March tax £m £m (pence)
2008 35,478 9,001 6,756 12.56 260
2007 31,104 (2,383) (5,297) (8.94) 206.4
2006* 29,350 (14,835) (21,821) (35.01) 170.6
2005 34,073 7,951 6,518 9.68 154.8
2004 36,492 9,013 6,112 8.70 133.4
*Losses for year to 31 March 2006 reflect write downs of
assets, principally in relation to the Mannesmann
acquisition. Proportionate turnover includes £7,100 million
from discontinued operations.

The group's recent first quarter trading update (24 July,

2009) saw management reiterating its profit guidance for
the full year. Whilst revenues across Europe had been
relatively weak, mirroring general economic conditions,
there had been a positive showing from South Africa, with

48
the company's Indian purchase of Hutchison Essar
continuing to generate returns. Meanwhile, its joint venture
with Verizon in the US had strengthened further, with
Vodafone's overall customer base now standing at 315
million - 8 million having been added during the first
quarter. In addition, management noted that its cost
reduction programme, targeted to save £1bn in operating
costs by the end of the 2011 financial year, would reach
65pc of its target by the end of the current financial year.

Products

Motorola "T2288" (Talkabout)

mobile phone, branded
"Vodafone"

Products promoted by the Group

include Vodafone live!,
Vodafone Mobile Connect USB
Modem, Vodafone Connect to
Friends, Vodafone Passport,
Vodafone Freedom Packs, Vodafone at Home, Vodafone

49
710 and Amobee Media Systems. Between June and
August 2009, Vodafone suspended roaming charges within
35 different countries, allowing their customers to take
their standard UK price plan abroad.

In October 2009, it launched Vodafone 360[1], a new

internet service for the mobile, PC and Mac. On February
15, 2010 Vodafone launched world's cheapest mobile
phone known as Vodafone 150, will sell for below $15
(£10) and is aimed at the developing world. It will initially
be launched in India, Turkey and eight African countries
including Lesotho, Kenya and Ghana.

50
 !dea
In the most narrow sense, an idea is just whatever is before
the mind when one thinks. Very often, ideas are construed
as representational images; i.e. images of some object. In
other contexts, ideas are taken to be concepts, although
abstract concepts do not necessarily appear as images.[1]
Many philosophers consider ideas to be a fundamental
ontological category of being.

The capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas

is considered to be an essential and defining feature of
human beings.

In a popular sense, an idea arises in a reflex, spontaneous

manner, even without thinking or serious reflection, for

51
example, when we talk about the idea of a person or a
place.

Innate and adventitious ideas

Main articles: Innate idea and Adventitious idea

One view on the nature of ideas is that there exist some

ideas (called innate ideas) which are so general and
abstract, that they could not have arisen as a representation
of any object of our perception, but rather were, in some
sense, always in the mind before we could learn them.
These are distinguished from adventitious ideas which are
images or concepts which are accompanied by the
judgment that they are caused by some object outside of the
mind.[2]

Another view holds that we only discover ideas in the same

way that we discover the real world, from personal
experiences. The view that humans acquire all or almost all

52
their behavioral traits from nurture (life experiences) is
known as tabula rasa ("blank slate"). Most of the
confusions in the way of ideas arise at least in part from the
use of the term "idea" to cover both the representation
percept and the object of conceptual thought. This can be
illustrated in terms of the doctrines of innate ideas,
"concrete ideas versus abstract ideas", as well as "simple
ideas versus complex ideas". [3]

Philosophy

Plato
Main article: Theory of Forms

Plato was one of the earliest philosopher to provide a

detailed discussion of ideas. He considered the concept of
idea in the realm of metaphysics and its implications for
epistemology. He asserted that there is realm of Forms or
Ideas, which exist independently of anyone who may have
thought of these ideas. Material things are then imperfect
and transient reflections or instantiations of the perfect and
unchanging ideas. From this it follows that these Ideas are

53
the principal reality (see also idealism). In contrast to the
individual objects of sense experience, which undergo
constant change and flux, Plato held that ideas are perfect,
eternal, and immutable. Consequently, Plato considered
that knowledge of material things is not really knowledge;
real knowledge can only be had of unchanging ideas.

From Ideals to Practice

Whether you’re a project manager or an educator, you can

more dynamically and effectively disseminate information.
Check out our Journal of Interaction Recipes for ideas and
first steps.

If you’re an educator, a project director, or a content

developer and have found a solution to an online learning
obstacle, please share your recipe for success.

54
Contribute Your Time

Your time and expertise are invaluable in our work to

enhance the ways people think, learn, and use technology,
both within and outside of the realm of formal education.
We have a wide range of volunteer opportunities, at least
one of which is sure to dovetail with your interests and
skills.

One of IDEA’s most formidable resources is our cadre of

supporters who are willing and eager to provide us with
feedback about our online publications and technology
tools. From the early stages of brainstorming, to
prototyping and early beta testing, your feedback will help
us better serve the public.

Your Financial Support

As a nonprofit organization, IDEA relies on generous

contributions from individuals, foundations, corporations,
and public agencies, all of whom donate money and time to

55
support our theoretical and technological innovations for
improving the ways people interact with online
information.

Make Different

If you share our passion for leveraging technology to

increase scientific, artistic, and cultural literacy, then get
involved! You can nurture bold ideas so that they grow and
flourish.

Here’s how:

• Begin using technology in a way that’s organic, akin

to the way the mind really works. Join the SpicyNodes
community (it’s free), create nodemaps that convey
meaningful information, and share them with the
world via your web site, blog, social network, or the
online SpicyNodes gallery.
• Promote IDEA’s programs and projects — from our
WebExhibits online museum to our ColoRotate 3D

56
 color picking tool — on your web site, blog, or social
network and link back to IDEA’s site.
• Write new pages or provide illustrations for our
WebExhibits. You can become an active contributor
by sharing your unique experience and expertise —
such as photos or tips about your local calendar,
butter, or Daylight Saving Time.
• Translate a WebExhibit into a language other than
English.
• If you’re a teacher, you’re likely already using
technology in your classroom. Continue to set an
example for your students by using innovative
approaches and technologies that facilitates the
exchange of meaningful information. You can use our
WebExhibits teacher’s guides or lesson plans using
concept maps with SpicyNodes. And, please share
your experiences so that we can expand our teacher’s
guides and provide educators with additional
resources.

57
 • Promote the creative use of technology in your
community by using some of our Recipes for Dynamic
Education; tell us your stories and successes.

Promoting IDEA’s mission can take just a few hours of

your time, or much more. Our tools have grown organically
with a variety of input from academicians, researchers, and
the general public. Learn more about trying out our new
ideas.

Each of our projects and programs involves a lengthy

research and development phase. We rely upon the
feedback and counsel of our supporters to ensure that our
concepts, information, and technologies are sound and
useful. We believe strongly in the iterative process, and
have found that the back-and-forth between our
development team and our testers lead to refinements that
enrich our projects and help us better serve the public. It’s
been our experience that our volunteer testers find the
process rewarding as well.

58
When you volunteer, you’ll hear from us from time to time.
We may solicit ideas for new Web Exhibits or lesson plans,
ask for your feedback on early prototypes, inquire about
how you may or may not use a new technology, or ask you
to be a beta tester.

59