Tata Docomo

Last updated

TATA DOCOMO
FormerlyTata Docomo
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Telecommunications
FoundedNovember 2008;15 years ago (2008-11)
Defunct1 July 2019;5 years ago (2019-07-01)
FateAcquired by Bharti Airtel
Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Area served
India
Products
Members20.04 million (March 2018) [1]
Number of employees
5,015 [2]
Parent Bharti Airtel

Tata Docomo was an Indian mobile network operator, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Teleservices deriving its name from NTT Docomo who invested in the company in 2008. In October 2017, Bharti Airtel announced a merger deal with Tata Teleservices and the acquisition of Tata Docomo. [3] As of 7 July 2019, all Tata Docomo users are merged with Airtel network and provided with all the Airtel services.

Contents

The consumer mobile businesses of Tata Docomo, Tata Teleservices (TTSL) and Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Limited (TTML) have been merged into Bharti Airtel from 1 July 2019. [4] [5] [6]

History

Tata Docomo was part of the Indian conglomerate Tata Group. The company received the licence 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. [7] Docomo provides services throughout India. Tata Docomo offered both prepaid and postpaid Mobile Phone services. It became very popular with its one-second pulse, especially in semi-urban and rural areas.

In November 2008, NTT Docomo invested ₹12,740 crore (equivalent to ₹320 billionorUS$3.8 billion in 2023) in Tata Teleservices, at ₹117 (equivalent to ₹290orUS$3.50 in 2023) a share for a 26.5% stake in the latter. [8] [9] Docomo, TTSL and Tata Sons had in March 2009 signed shareholder agreement for the business alliance. In March 2009, Docomo acquired 27.31% of 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. [10]

On 5 November 2010, Tata Docomo became the first private sector telecom company to launch 3G services in India. Tata Docomo had about 49 million users at the end of March 2017.

In April 2011, Tata Docomo signed Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor as its brand ambassador on a three-year contract, now the contract is expired. [11] For the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, actors Vijay and Ram Charan are the brand ambassadors respectively.

In October 2017, Bharti Airtel announced its acquisition of Tata Docomo having roughly 17 million subscribers. [12]

Rebranding & Reformation

On 20 October 2011, the Tata Group brought its brands – Indicom (CDMA), Walky (Fixed Wireless Phone), and Photon INTERNET – under the Tata Docomo brand. All subscribers to these services were transited to the Tata Docomo's network on 20 October 2011. In 2015, Virgin Mobile India company was merged with Tata Docomo. T24 Mobile company was merged with Tata Docomo on 15 August 2018. [13] All operations around these companies across India had merged into Tata Docomo's entity to form second largest CDMA and GSM network in India.

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 the right of the first refusal. [9] [14] 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. [15]

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 reversed their decision and rejected the deal in March 2015, citing FEMA regulations. [16] 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. [9] NTT Docomo then moved the London Court of International Arbitration seeking a valuation of ₹58 a share. [17]

On 28 February 2017, Tata and NTT Docomo resolved their dispute, after the former announced that it would pay the latter US$1.18 billion in exchange for NTT Docomo's shares in the joint venture. [18] On 31 October, $1.27 billion was paid to NTT Docomo by Tata Sons, thus ending the dispute. [19]

Acquisition by Bharti Airtel

On 12 October 2017, Bharti Airtel proposed a deal for the acquisition of Tata Group's Telecommunications including, Tata Teleservices and Tata Docomo. Tata Group made a deal with Airtel, to sell its assets in a debt-cash-free deal which will only include TTSL's spectrum liability. [20] The Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the Department of Telecom (DoT) gave approval for Airtel to proceed with the deal.

Network

3G

On 19 May 2010, the 3G spectrum auction in India ended. Tata Teleservices paid ₹5,864.29 crores for spectrum in 10 circles. These circles obtained 3G licences and they are Madhya Pradesh & Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra & Goa, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh (West). [21] [22] [23] [24]

Related Research Articles

India's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world by number of telephone users with over 1.1 billion subscribers as of December 2023. It has one of the lowest call tariffs in the world enabled by multiple large-scale telecom operators and the ensuant hyper-competition between them. India has the world's second largest Internet user-base with over 904 million broadband internet subscribers as of December 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reliance Communications</span> Indian telecommunications company

Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) was an Indian mobile network provider headquartered in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra that offered voice and 2G and 3G and 4G data services. In February 2019, the company filed for bankruptcy as it was unable to sell assets to repay its debt. It has an estimated debt of ₹500 billion against assets worth ₹180 billion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunil Mittal</span> Indian industrialist and philanthropist

Sunil Bharti Mittal is an Indian industrialist and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprises, which has diversified interests in telecom, insurance, real estate, education, malls, hospitality, Agri and food besides other ventures.

Tata Teleservices Limited along with its subsidiary Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited is an Indian internet services provider and IT services company headquartered in Mumbai, India. It is listed on BSE and NSE in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robi (company)</span> Telecommunications company operating in Bangladesh

Robi Axiata PLC. is the second largest mobile network operator in Bangladesh. Axiata of Malaysia holds a major controlling stake of 61.82% in the company, while Bharti Airtel of India holds 28.18% and investors in DSE and CSE hold 10%. Robi first commenced operation in 1997 as Telekom Malaysia International (Bangladesh) with the brand name ‘AKTEL’. In 2010, the company was re-branded to ‘Robi’ and the company changed its name to Robi Axiata Limited. As per government rule, the name changed to Robi Axiata PLC in 2024 as Robi is listed in Stock Market and a Public Limited Company. Robi Axiata has spectrum on GSM 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands. On 16 November 2016, Airtel Bangladesh was merged into Robi as a product brand of Robi, where Robi Axiata PLC is the licensee of Airtel brand only in Bangladesh. Having successfully completed the merger process, Robi has emerged as the second largest mobile phone operator in Bangladesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bharti Airtel</span> Indian multinational telecommunications company

Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and LTE Advanced services throughout India. Currently offered services include fixed-line broadband, and voice services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel had also rolled out its Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology across all Indian telecom circles. It is the second largest mobile network operator in India and the second largest mobile network operator in the world. Airtel was named India's 2nd most valuable brand in the first ever Brandz ranking by Millward Brown and WPP plc.

Bharti Enterprises Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Delhi. It was founded in 1976 by Sunil Bharti Mittal. Bharti Enterprises owns businesses spanning across telecommunications, manufacturing, insurance, real estate, hospitality, and food. The group's flagship company, Bharti Airtel, is a telecom service provider with operations in more than 18 countries across Asia, Africa and Europe. The company ranks amongst the top two mobile network operators globally by number of subscribers.

Aircel Ltd. was an Indian mobile network operator headquartered in Mumbai that offered voice and 2G and 3G data services. Maxis Communications held a 74% stake and Sindya Securities and Investments held the remaining 26%. Aircel was founded by Chinnakannan Sivasankaran and commenced operations in Tamil Nadu in 1999. It was once a market leader in Tamil Nadu and had considerable presence in Odisha, Assam and North-East telecom circles. 2G and 3G Services including voice were shut down in all circles after failure of merger talks with Reliance Communications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airtel Bangladesh</span> A brand of Robi Axiata Ltd in Bangladesh

Airtel is a telecom sub-brand of Robi Axiata in Bangladesh, which was managed by Bharti Airtel under the banner, 'Airtel Bangladesh Limited' until November 2016. In November 2016, Airtel merged its operations with Robi Axiata Limited. Following the merger, Airtel remained as a product brand of Robi Axiata Ltd. in Bangladesh. Since then, Robi Axiata is the brand licensing holder for Airtel brand in Bangladesh. Previously Airtel Bangladesh acquired Warid Bangladesh in 2010. After the merge, Robi Axiata marketed Airtel as "the #1 network of friends" targeting the youth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loop Mobile</span> Indian telecommunications company

Loop Mobile India Ltd, formerly BPL Mobile Communications, was an Indian mobile network operator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telenor India</span> Indian telecommunication company

Telenor (India) Communications Private Limited, formerly known as Uninor, was an Indian mobile network operator. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor Group. In February 2017, Telenor Group announced merging the India business with Bharti Airtel in a no-cash deal with liability of Airtel to take over the outstanding spectrum payments of Rs 1,650 crore post necessary regulatory approvals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Videocon Telecom</span> Indian cellular service provider

Videocon Telecommunications Limited, formerly Videocon Mobile Services, was an Indian cellular service provider that offered GSM mobile services in India under the brand name Videocon. The company was a subsidiary of the Videocon Group, and was headquartered at Gurgaon, Haryana. Videocon launched its services on 7 April 2010 in Mumbai. At its peak, Videocon held licences to provide mobile services in 18 out of 22 telecom circles of India. However, Videocon launched commercial services only in 11 out of the 18 circles it held licences in. Following the 2G spectrum case, the Supreme Court cancelled 122 licences issued by the Indian Government in 2008, including 21 licences belonging to Videocon.

In India, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) conducts auctions of licenses for electromagnetic spectrum. India was among the early adopters of spectrum auctions beginning auctions in 1994.

Indus Towers Limited is an Indian telecommunications infrastructure company offering passive infrastructure services to mobile network operators and other wireless services providers. Headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, Indus Towers was incorporated in November 2007 by Bharti Infratel, Vodafone Essar, and Idea Cellular, to provide shared telecom infrastructure to telecom operators on a non-discriminatory basis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airtel Africa</span> African subsidiary of Airtel, providing telecommunications and mobile money services

Airtel Africa plc is an Indian multinational company that provides telecommunications and mobile money services in 14 countries in Africa, primarily in East, Central and West Africa. Airtel Africa is majority owned by the Indian telecommunications company Bharti Airtel. Airtel Africa offers mobile voice and data services as well as mobile money services both nationally and internationally. Airtel Nigeria is the most profitable unit of Airtel Africa, due to its cheap data plans in Nigeria. As of March 2019, Airtel had over 99 million subscribers in the continent. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warid Bangladesh</span>

Warid was a GSM based mobile network operator in Bangladesh. It entered into Bangladeshi telecommunication industry as the sixth mobile carrier. It commenced commercial operations on May 10, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airtel India</span> Indian telecommunications company

Airtel India is the second largest provider of mobile telephony and third largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. The brand is operated by several subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel, with Bharti Hexacom and Bharti Telemedia providing broadband fixed line services and Bharti Infratel providing telecom passive infrastructure service such as telecom equipment and telecom towers. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and 4G+ services all over India. Currently offered services include fixed-line broadband, and voice services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel had also rolled out its VoLTE technology across all Indian telecom circles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vodafone Idea</span> Indian telecommunications company

Vodafone Idea, in acronym Vi, is an Indian telecommunications company with its headquarters based in Mumbai and Gandhinagar. It is an all-India integrated GSM operator offering mobile telephony services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idea Cellular</span> Former Indian telecommunications company

Idea Cellular was an Indian telecommunications company based at Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was an integrated GSM operator and had 220.00 million subscribers as of June 2018.

References

  1. ↑ "Press Release on Telecom Subscription Data as on 12 February, 2018" (PDF). Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. 17 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
  2. ↑ "Tata Docomo". Economic Times. 20 November 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "Airtel acquired Tata Mobile Business". Business Standard. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  4. ↑ "Airtel Completes Merger of Tata". Livemint. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  5. ↑ "Airtel's Tata merger deal". Business Line. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  6. ↑ "DoT approved deal of Tata and Bharti Airtel". Economic Times. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  7. ↑ "About Tata DOCOMO | 3G Mobiles in India | 3G Network". Askbiography.com. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  8. ↑ "Tatas agree to pay $1.18 bn to NTT DoCoMo for exit". The Times of India. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  9. 1 2 3 Chatterjee, Dev (20 July 2015). "Tata offers to buy out Docomo at Rs 23.3 a share". Business Standard India. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  10. ↑ "DoCoMo's India exit gets more painful after Tatas offer just Rs 23.34 a share for Tata Tele stake". Firstpost. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  11. ↑ "Tata DOCOMO ropes in Ranbir Kapoor as brand ambassador". The Times Of India. 7 April 2011. Archived from the original on 31 December 2013.
  12. ↑ "Bharti Airtel acquires Tata's mobile arm". The Hindu . 12 October 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2018.
  13. ↑ "Tata Tele Data Products Get New Identity With Docomo Brand". 19 October 2011.
  14. ↑ "With DoCoMo-Tata Dispute Raging, India Discourages Foreign Investment". Forbes . Retrieved 14 November 2016.
  15. ↑ Reeba Zachariah (26 April 2014). "DoCoMo to exit India at $1.3 billion loss". The Times of India.
  16. ↑ ET Bureau (25 March 2015). "RBI rejects Tata offer for DoCoMo's Teleservices stake". The Economic Times.
  17. ↑ Dev Chatterjee (6 January 2015). "Docomo plans foreclosure action against Tata Sons". Business Standard.
  18. ↑ Bureau, Our (28 February 2017). "Tata Sons-NTT DoCoMo bury hatchet". The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved 28 February 2017.{{cite web}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  19. ↑ Mohile, Shally Seth (31 October 2017). "Tata-Docomo dispute settled as Tata Sons pays $1.27 bn arbitration award".
  20. ↑ Barman, Arijit; Guha, Romit (13 October 2017). "Tata Teleservices to sell its wireless mobile business to Bharti Airtel" – via The Economic Times.
  21. ↑ "India's 3G Auction Ends; Operator And Circle-Wise Results". 19 May 2010.
  22. ↑ "Light Reading India – IP & Convergence – ,Aircel Join Forces for 3G – Telecom News Analysis". Lightreading.com. 9 January 2011. Archived from the original on 16 August 2011. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  23. ↑ "Tata Docomo and Aircel Terminate 3G Roaming Deal". Telecomtalk.info. 14 December 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  24. ↑ "Docomo Launches Facility for users to add unused 2g/3g Data". www.wapmasterszone.com. WapmasterZone. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.