Tata DoCoMo

Tata DoCoMo Limited
Joint venture
Industry Telecommunications
Founded November 2008
Headquarters New Delhi, NCT, India
Area served
 India
Products Fixed line, Mobile telephony, Fixed wireless, Wireless broadband
Parent Tata Teleservices (73.5%)
NTT Docomo (26.5%)
Website www.tatadocomo.com

Tata DoCoMo is an Indian mobile network operator, which is a joint venture between Tata Teleservices and NTT Docomo since November 2008. It is the country's seventh largest operator in terms of subscribers (including both GSM and CDMA).

History

Further information: Tata Group

Tata DOCOMO is part of the Indian conglomerate Tata Group. The company received the license to operate GSM services in nineteen telecom circles and was allotted spectrum in eighteen of these circles and launched GSM services on 24 June 2009. It began operations first in South India and currently operates GSM services in eighteen of twenty two telecom circles. It has licences to operate in Delhi but has not been allocated spectrum from the Government.[1] Docomo provides services throughout India. Tata DOCOMO offers both prepaid and postpaid cellular phone services. It has become very popular with its one-second pulse especially in semi-urban and rural areas.

In November 2008, NTT Docomo invested $2.2 billion in Tata Teleservices, at ₹117 a share for a 26.5% stake in the latter.[2] DoCoMo, TTSL and Tata Sons had in March 2009 signed shareholder agreement for the business alliance. In March 2009, DoCoMo acquired a 27.31% in Tata Teleservices for Rs 12,924 crore and 20.25% in Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd, the listed arm of TTSL, for ₹949 crore. Overall, DoCoMo holds 26.5%in Tata Teleservices.[3]

On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO became the first private sector telecom company to launch 3G services in India. Tata DOCOMO had about 42.34 million users at the end of December 2010.[4]

In April 2011, Tata DOCOMO signed Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor as its brand ambassador on a three-year contract, now the contract is expired.[5] For the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, actors Vijay and Ram Charan Teja are the brand ambassadors respectively.

Rebranding

On 20 October 2011, the Tata Group brought its brands – Indicom (CDMA), Tata Docomo (GSM), Walky (Fixed Wireless Phone), Photon, INTERNET – under the Tata DOCOMO name. All subscribers to these services were migrated to the Docomo brand on 20 October 2011.[6] In 2015, Virgin Mobile - the other brand under Tata Group was also merged with Tata Docomo. T24 Mobile is not part of the rebranding and continue to retain their names.[7]

NTT DOCOMO exit

According to the agreement between the Tata Group and NTT DoCoMo, the latter had the right to sell its stake if Tata Docomo missed performance targets, with Tata getting right of first refusal.[8][2] On 25 April 2014, NTT Docomo had announced that they would sell all of their shares in Tata DoCoMo and exit the Indian telecom industry as they had incurred a total loss of $1.3 billion. Under the joint venture agreement between the two groups, NTT Docomo would either increase its stake from 26.5% to 51%, or sell all of its shares, depending on the performance of Tata Docomo in the Indian market.[9]

Since Tata was unable to find a buyer for the shares, they sought the approval of the RBI, in November 2014, to buy back the shares from NTT Docomo for $1.1 billion (at ₹58.045 per share), half the price paid by them in 2009. The RBI had approved the deal in January 2015, but however, went back on their decision and rejected the deal in March 2015, citing FEMA regulations.[10] Following the RBI decision, the Tata Group offered to purchase Docomo's stake at ₹23.34 a share on the basis of a fair market value determined on 30 June 2014 by PwC.[2] NTT Docomo then moved the London Court of International Arbitration seeking a valuation of ₹58 a share.[11]

Network

Tata DOCOMO operates in 19 telecom circles and offers services on GSM and CDMA platforms. Mobile services are available in the following telecom circles:[12] With effect from 17 June 2013, Docomo does not offer postpaid services, on both CDMA and GSM, in Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and West Bengal (except Kolkata).[13]

3G

On 19 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction in India ended. Tata DOCOMO paid ₹5864.29 crores for spectrum in 9 circles. These circles obtained 3G licences and they are Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra & Goa, Punjab, Tamilnadu, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh (West).[14]

On 5 November 2010, Tata DOCOMO became the first private sector telecom company (third overall) to launch 3G services in India, with a 20 city launch. On July 19, 2011, Docomo and Aircel entered into a roaming agreement for 3G services to jointly roll out 3G networks in the three circles where they both have coverage (Karnataka, Kerala, and Punjab).[15] On December 14, 2011, Docomo ended its agreement with Aircel. Both operators ended the deal after the Department of Telecom said that such 3G arrangements were illegal, as the pacts violate licence terms and conditions.[16] Tata DOCOMO and Aircel currently have bilateral roaming agreements to allow their subscribers to seamlessly use 3G on roaming. Tata Docomo[17] customers use Reliance GSM's 3G network when they are on roaming in Delhi.

Docomo had about 1.5 million 3G subscribers as of May 2011.[18]

CDMA shutdown

Tata Docomo is at present shutting down the CDMA network. It started calling its subscribers to migrate to GSM and confirmed CDMA network would not be available after 1st July 2016 in various telecom circle areas across India.

Awards and Recognition

Tata DOCOMO was ranked 64th among India's most trusted brands according to the Brand Trust Report 2012, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory. In the Brand Trust Report 2013, Tata DOCOMO was ranked 117th among India's most trusted brands while according to the Brand Trust Report 2014, Tata DOCOMO was ranked 261st among India's most trusted brands. It was among 16 of Tata's subsidiary brands to feature in the report apart from the parent brand. Ratan Tata also featured in the report among India's most trusted 'Personality' brands.[19]

References

  1. ↑ "About Tata DOCOMO | 3G Mobiles in India | 3G Network". Askbiography.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  2. 1 2 3 http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/tata-offers-to-buy-out-docomo-at-rs-23-3-a-share-115071900208_1.html
  3. ↑ http://www.firstpost.com/business/docomos-india-exit-gets-painful-tatas-offer-just-rs-23-34-share-tata-tele-stake-2351276.html
  4. ↑ Annual Report 2010 - 2011 - Tata Teleservices
  5. ↑ "Tata DOCOMO ropes in Ranbir Kapoor as brand ambassador". The Times Of India. 2011-04-07.
  6. ↑ "TATA Indicom is Now TATA DOCOMO". Telecomtalk.info. 2011-10-19. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  7. ↑ Tata Tele Data Products Get New Identity With Docomo Brand
  8. ↑ "With DoCoMo-Tata Dispute Raging, India Discourages Foreign Investment". Forbes. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  9. ↑ Reeba Zachariah (26 April 2014). "DoCoMo to exit India at $1.3 billion loss". The Times of India.
  10. ↑ ET Bureau (25 March 2015). "RBI rejects Tata offer for DoCoMo's Teleservices stake". The Economic Times.
  11. ↑ Dev Chatterjee (6 January 2015). "Docomo plans foreclosure action against Tata Sons". Business Standard.
  12. ↑ Biswas, Rudradeep (2012-11-26). "TT Special: 2G Map of India". Telecomtalk.info. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
  13. ↑ "Tata Docomo to Shut Down Postpaid Services in Rajasthan, Bihar & West Bengal". Telecomtalk.info. 2013-05-24. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
  14. ↑ India’s 3G Auction Ends; Operator And Circle-Wise Results
  15. ↑ "Light Reading India – IP & Convergence – Tata, Aircel Join Forces for 3G – Telecom News Analysis". Lightreading.com. 9 January 2011. Archived from the original on 16 August 2011. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
  16. ↑ "Tata Docomo and Aircel Terminate 3G Roaming Deal". Telecomtalk.info. 2011-12-14. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  17. ↑ "Docomo Launches Facility for users to add unused 2g/3g Data". www.wapmasterszone.com. WapmasterZone. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  18. ↑ "PC World Product Latest News | PC World India". Pcworld.in. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  19. ↑ "India's Most Trusted Brands 2014".
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