Policy Impacts on Indian Telecom Services Industry: Sales, Connectivity and Usages
Prajeesh Karonnon and Meenakshi Rajeev
Abstract
The telecom sector in India has undergone major policy shifts during the post 1990 period which have impacted the telecom sector in multiple ways. This paper analyses the impact of major policy shifts in the Indian telecom service sector, particularly from opening the market in 1990s to the recent introduction of fifth generation services. The policy impacts on three broad dimensions of the sector (usage, connectivity, and sales) are analysed using the secondary data. The analysis shows that the policy has been evidently successful in delivering its objectives up to a large extent in the post-2008. The trends in subscriber base, minutes of usage, rural and urban teledensity (though rural areas still lag behind), the Average Revenue Per User and the Minutes of Usage (ARPU) indicate the same. The success of these policies has been passed on to the customers in the form of tariff cuts and more connectivity. The analysis also showed that the increase in regulatory and access charges do not negatively affect the sales of the industry. Hence, more regulation of this nature may not significantly affect the industry negatively in terms of sales.