A CONSUMER CONNECT INITIATIVE
The fourth edition of The EconomicTimes Telecom Awards presented bythe Global Group was held in a
beautiful ceremony on December 5,2014 at the Taj Palace, New Delhi. As hasbecome the norm over thelast three years, the awardsnight witnessed the con-vergence of some of themost eminent personali-ties and leaders from theIndian telecommunications industry.These awards, an initiative by The TimesGroup and the Global Grou,p are aimedat providing a platform that celebratesthe excellence displayed by industrymembers and also highlights the bench-marks and standards of business and ofinnovation that are a hallmarkof the highly competitivetelecommunications industry inIndia.
Telecommunications haschanged the landscape of India.Since the early 1990s we’veseen communications in Indiagrow from around a few millionland phones to reach a signifi-cant majority (75%) of thecountry’s 1.2 billion people.India has gone from a commu-nications backwater to becomethe second largest and mostvibrant mobile market on theplanet. As of March 2014, theoverall telecommunications subscriberbase in India is approximately 930 mil-lion, with the wireless subscriber basebeing pegged at around 900 million andthe wireline subscriber base at nearly 30million, according to the data released bythe Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI).
An offshoot of this telecommunicationgrowth has been empowerment for thepeople; millions of citizens can now elec-tronically access services and informationeasily and effectively. Clearly, telecommu-nication services are also proving to be
an essential tool for the socio-economicdevelopment. Slowly but surely, thetelecommunication age in India is one ofinformation and knowledge revolution atthe grassroots level. It is also clear thattelecommunication services are one ofthe main support systems that can
enable rapid growth andmodernization of the vari-ous sectors of the econo-my. Smart phone penetra-tion, which is criticallydependent upon data con-
nectivity, can be the true harbinger of rev-olution in India because it allows accessto information, knowledge and serviceselectronically, via the phone handset, i.e.single point infrastructure investment bythe consumer. While the policy tasks thesector with growth in broadband servic-
es, the sector itself needsto look at improving theavailability and quality ofthe data service connectivi-ty. Because the telecomsector also needs to look atnew sources for growth asrevenue based purely onincrease in voice or com-munication device usersslows down. Globally, data-users tend to result in high-er than average revenueper user for the telecomservice. The stakeholdersin the Indian telecomindustry have responded to
the challenge with innovation and servic-es that look ready to take the countryinto the next telecommunications revolu-tion – data services.
And it is this spirit, this willingness tomeet the unique challenges of the Indianmarket and service its demands, that TheEconomic Times Telecom Awards pre-sented by the Global Group seeks tohonour and acknowledge.
The glittering event began with a perti-nent welcome note by Arunabh DasSharma, President; Bennett, Coleman &Company Ltd., which not only mapped
the contours of the industry but alsopointed out the enormous potential itpresented. He also rightly pointedtowards the growing size of not just thetelecommunications industry in terms ofservice providers but in terms of theentire eco-system of communications,
which is now a vibrant area of growthand development in itself. The eveningalso witnessed a lively and pertinentGlobal Master Class panel discussion bysome of the best known industry leaders,which was followed by the presentationof the awards. The awards themselveswere based on the advice and delibera-tions of an eminent jury comprisingsome of the most knowledgeableexperts. A grand total of 17 awardsacross diverse categories were presentedthrough the course of the evening.
It is good to be here at TheEconomic Times Awardsceremony. As is rightly
pointed out the whole Indiantelecom horizon is indeed avery exciting story. Today wecannot ignore technology. Wecannot afford to be alien to thepower of technology andconnectivity. I am mostfascinated by the growth ofsmartphones in India. Recentlythe internet and mobile serviceproviders association conveyedto me that by the end of thisyear - just a few days away -internet penetration in Indiawill be to the tune of about300 million or 30 crore people.Mobile connectivity is growing, internet connectivity isgrowing and obviously we are already flooded withtelevision channels and content. In short, we are becoming ahyper connected people and from there has emerged thewhole initiative of Digital India. And in that quest we haveunleashed a massive programme, the National Optical FibreNetwork whereby we propose to connect all the grampanchayats of India - some 250,000 of them - in the comingthree to three and half years. It is a huge exercise. We arefully committed towards implementing it. A Digital India iswhat we are proposing and very keenly pursuing. Iunderstand that you have faced problems in the past. Andthere are a lot of legacy problems in the telecom ministry.We are setting it right. I wish to close by complimenting TheEconomic Times for continuing these awards to recognisethe achievers in the field of telecom. I congratulate all theawardees. And I can tell you all that a very promising andencouraging horizon in the field of telephony, in the field oftelecom, in the field of digitisation is available in India.
RAVI SHANKARPRASADUnion Minister ofCommunications andInformation Technology,Government of India
TELECOMMUNICATIONSFOR A DIGITAL INDIA
Honouring Telecommunication ExpertsThe 4th annual ET Telecom Awards 2014 ceremonyacknowledged the best and the brightest in thefield even as it looked towards innovations andpractices that are pointing towards the future
All the winners of the awards across categories at the fourth Annual ET Telecom Awards 2014 presented by the Global Group
MAYUR TADAYDy. COO,
InnovSource,delivering thevote of thanks
Marten Pieters, MD & CEO, Vodafone Indiarecieving the Certificate of Appreciation for'Outstanding Contribution to the IndianTelecom Industry’ from Ravi Shanker Prasad
THE WINNERS
Sachin Das, VP- Customer Services & Vaibhav Chaturvedi,Senior Manager-Customer Services, Aircel receiving theaward for its initiative from R.K. Bahuguna, Chairman &Managing Director, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. & MilindBengali, COO Business operations, GTL Infrastructure Ltd.
MOBILE CUSTOMER SERVICE – AIRCEL
Anand Chandrasekaran, Chief Product Officer & Mani Narang,DGM, Bharti Airtel Ltd., receiving the award from R. K. Bahuguna,Chairman & Managing Director, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. &Milind Bengali, COO Business operations, GTL Infrastructure Ltd.
Dmitry Shukov, CEO, MTS along with his colleagues receiving the award from R.K. Bahuguna, Chairman & Man-aging Director, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. & Milind Ben-gali, COO Business Operations, GTL Infrastructure Ltd.
MOBILE PRODUCT - BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED MY FAVOURITE SERVICE PROVIDER - BHARTI AIRTEL LIMITED
Gaurav Chauhan, MD, Radio Design India Private Limited,receiving the award for the Game Changer of the Year category receiving the award from Ravi Shankar Prasad,Union Minister
S. Srinivasan, CEO, IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited, along withhis colleagues receiving the award from Ravi ShankarPrasad, Union Minister
GAME CHANGER OF THE YEAR - RADIO DESIGN INDIAPRIVATE LIMITED
USE OF TELECOM FOR SOCIAL GOOD - FOR PROFITCOMPANY - IFFCO KISAN SANCHAR LIMITED
EXCELLENCE IN ENERGY MANAGEMENT - TATA TELESERVICES LTD.
Vandana Nanda, Managing Director, Centre For RailwayInformation Systems along with her colleagues receiving theaward from Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister
USE OF TELECOM FOR SOCIAL GOOD - NOT FOR PROFITCOMPANY - CENTRE FOR RAILWAY INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Saji Mathew, Vice President, Tata Teleservices Ltd. & SunilSingh, General Manager, receiving the award from SanjayKapoor, Chairman, Micromax Informatics Limited & ArunabhDas Sharma, President, Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.
VALUE ADDED SERVICES (VAS) – MTS
Rufina Fernandes, Head Corporate Communication & CSR, Global Group,welcoming Ravi Shankar Prasad
There are several parts to the telecom sector: there arethe service providers; there are handset manufacturers;there are the infrastructure players; the appecosystem… so there is a lot going on in this sector.And they are all stakeholders in the growth of the sector.Today the main agenda for these awards is to recognisethe contributions made; to recognise the breakthroughwork that has happened and to motivate them tocontinue their journey of excellence.
ARUNABHDAS SHARMAPresident, Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited
Mani Narang, DGM & Anand Chandrasekaran, Chief ProductOfficer, Bharti Airtel Ltd., receiving the award from R.K.Bahuguna, Chairman & Managing Director, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd.
Catch the coverage of the ET TelecomAwards ET NOW on December 27, 2014at 6:00 p.m. and the repeat telecast on
December 28,2014 at 5:30 p.m.
THE ECONOMIC TIMES, NEW DELHI, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2014
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