Vodafone Essar, usually referred to simply as Vodafone, is a

cellular operator in India

thatcovers 23 telecom circles in India. It was formerly known as Hutchison Essar. It is basedin Mumbai.[2] Vodafone Essar is the Indian subsidiary of Vodafone Group 67% and EssarGroup 33%. It is the second largest mobile phone operator in terms of revenue behind BhartiAirtel, and third largest in terms of customers.[3] The company now has operations across thecountry with over 113.77 million customers.On February 11, 2007, Vodafone agreed to acquire the controlling interest of 67% held by Li KaShing Holdings in Hutch-Essar for US$11.1 billion, pipping Reliance Communications, HindujaGroup, and Essar Group, which is the owner of the remaining 33%. The whole company wasvalued at USD 18.8 billion.[4] The transaction closed on May 8, 2007. Despite the official namebeing Vodafone Essar, its products are simply branded Vodafone. It offers both prepaid andpostpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India with good presence in the metros.Vodafone Essar provides 2.75G services based on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz digital GSMtechnology, offering voice and data services in 23 of the countrys 23 licence areas. It is amongthe top three GSM mobile operators of India.Vodafone Essar will launch third-generation (3G) services in the country in the January-Marchquarter of 2011 and plans to spend up to $500 million within two years on its 3G networks.Previous brandsInitially, around 1995, the company services were branded Max Touch renamed to Orange in2000. In December 2006, Hutchison Essar re-launched the "Hutch" brand nationwide,consolidating its services under a single identity.The company used to be named Hutchison Essar, reflecting the name of its previousowner, Hutchison. However, the brand was marketed as Hutch. After getting the necessarygovernment approvals with regards to the acquisition of a majority by the Vodafone Group, thecompany was rebranded as Vodafone Essar. The marketing brand was officially changedto Vodafone on 20 September 2007.[6]On September 20, 2007 Hutch became Vodafone in one of the biggest brand transition exercisesin recent times.Vodafone Essar is spending somewhere in the region of Rs. 250 crores on this high-profiletransition being unveiled today.Along with the transition, cheap cell phones have been launched 2. in the Indian market under the Vodafone brand. The company also plans to launch cobrandedhandsets sourced from global vendors as well.A popular daily quoted a Vodafone Essar director as saying that "the objective is to leverageVodafone Groups global scale in bringing millions of low-cost handsets from across-the-worldinto India."Incidentally, Chinas ZTE, which is looking to set-up a manufacturing unit in the country, isexpected to provide several Vodafone handsets in India. Earlier this year, Vodafone penned aglobal low-cost handset procurement deal with ZTE.[edit]Growth of Hutchison Essar (1992-2005)In 1992 Hutchison Whampoa and its Indian business partner established a company that in 1994was awarded a licence to provide

mobile telecommunications services in Mumbai (formerlyBombay) and launched commercial service as Hutchison Max in November 1995. Analjit Singh ofMax still holds 12% in company.In Delhi, UP (E), Rajasthan and Haryana, ESSAR was the major partner. But later Hutch took themajority Stake.By the time of Hutchison Telecoms Initial Public Offering in 2004, Hutchison Whampoa hadacquired interests in six mobile telecommunications operators providing service in 13 of Indias 23licence areas and following the completion of the acquisition of BPL that number increased to 16.In 2006, it announced the acquisition of a company (Essar Spacetel A subsidiary of EssarGroup) that held licence applications for the seven remaining licence areas.In a country growing as fast as India, a strategic and well managed business plan is critical tosuccess. Initially, the company grew its business in the largest wireless markets in India incities like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. In these densely populated urban areas it was able toestablish a robust network, well known brand and large distribution network -all vital to long-termsuccess in India. Then it also targeted business users and high-end post-paid customers whichhelped Hutchison Essar to consistently generate a higher Average Revenue Per User ("ARPU")than its competitors. By adopting this focused growth plan, it was able to establish leadingpositions in Indias largest markets providing the resources to expand its footprint nationwide.In February 2007, Hutchison Telecom announced that it had entered into a binding agreementwith a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc to sell its 67% direct and indirect equity and loaninterests in Hutchison Essar Limited for a total cash consideration (before costs, expenses andinterests) of approximately US$11.1 billion or HK$87 billion. In the same year, the companyentered into an agreement with NTT DoCoMo to launch i-mode mobile Internet service in India. 3. 1992: Hutchison Whampoa and Max Group established Hutchison Max2000: Acquisition of Delhi operations Entered Calcutta and Gujarat markets through ESSARacquisition2001: Won auction for licences to operate GSM services in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh andChennai2003: Acquired AirCel Digilink (ADIL ESSAR Subsidiary) which operated in Rajastan, Uttar PradeshEast and Haryana telecom circles and renamed it under Hutch brand2004: Launched in three additional telecom circles of India namely Punjab, Uttar Pradesh Westand West Bengal2005: Acquired BPL (Except Mumbai)- 3 Circles, another mobile service provider in India2008: Vodafone acquired the Licence in remaining 7 circles and has started its pendingoperations in Madhya Pradesh/Chhattisgarh with its headquarters at Malviya Nagar, Bhopalaswell as in Orissa, Assam, North East and Bihar2008: Vodafone launched the Apple iPhone 3G to be used on its 17 circle 2.75G network.Hutch was often praised for its award winning advertisements which all follow a clean, minimalistlook. A recurrent theme is that its message Hello stands out visibly though it uses only whiteletters on red background. Another

recent successful ad campaign in 2003 featured a pug namedCheeka following a boy around in unlikely places, with the tagline, Wherever you go, our networkfollows. The simple yet powerful advertisement campaigns won it many admirers.2009: Vodafone launched Recharge Online2009: Vodafone Essar - 1st Indian Telecom operator to receive the Payment Card IndustrySecurity Standard (PCI DSS) certification for its Mumbai operations and launches unlimited SMSoffer in Mumbai.[7]2010: Vodafone emerged as the most admired marketer in India. 2010: Vodafone crossed 100million subscribers in India[8]2010: Vodafone picks Nokia Siemens, Ericsson as 3G partners[9][edit]3GVodafone Essar, Indias third-largest mobile carrier, will launch third-generation (3G) services inthe country in the January-March quarter of 2011 and plans to spend up to $500 million within twoyears on its 3G networks. Vodafone Essar won 3G licences in nine of 22 telecom zones for Rs. 4. 11617.86 million, and has spent the second highest amount in the May 2010 auction. The circleswhere Vodaofne will provide 3G servicesare Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh (East)and West Bengal. The company named Nokia Siemens Networks and Ericsson as its 3Gequipment suppliers. [10][edit]