Telecom PSEs have lion's share in valuation: survey

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 10. An impressive growth of 22 per cent helped the Indian telecommunications industry to be valued at Rs. 53,173 crores in 1999-2000. The increase in the number of companies and a good economy were responsible for the performance, according to a survey by Voice & Data magazine. The survey, said to be the most comprehensive ever, covered 600 communication companies.

Not surprisingly in an environment where private companies are still finding their feet, State-run companies contributed the lion's share. The Department of Telecommunications was number one, contributing over Rs. 20,000 crores to the total turnover. If the planned corporatisation of the DoT gets completed by September 30, which the survey feels is unlikely, the net revenues would increase further. It quotes a DoT official as saying that AF Fergusson, the consultants for the corporatisation process, has valued the DoT at Rs. 250,000 crores.

While the DoT is a Government department, there were public sector companies - Videsh Sanchar Nigam, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam and ITI - which bagged the first three spots among the top 100 communication companies. They retained last year's position in the same order. But another PSE, Telecommunications Consultants of India (TCIL), could not retain last year's fourth slot and slipped one rung yielding its place to Sterlite.

The next five companies are Global Telesystems, Wipro Infotech, HFCL, HTL and Lucent Technologies. Lucent India was the only new entrant displacing Usha Beltron while other companies except Global Telesystems exchanged rankings among themselves.

The survey also conducted segment-wise analysis, dividing the sector into 18 categories on the basis of products and services. Some like telecom training, feature phones and call centres are nascent and are still building financial muscle. Companies belonging to some other categories such as cellular services, network integrators and Internet services have found a firm foot- hold and are poised for further growth.

The survey felt Bharti, BPL and Reliance had emerged as the most serious players in the communications infrastructure sector with firm plans to sizable contribution. Most of these companies might enter into consortia with some government companies like the Railways, Power Grid and Gas Authority of India which have substantial and unfettered right of way for laying cables. While these companies are likely to make a mark on the national level, some State-level companies such as Shyam Telelink, Hughes Tele.com, Tata Teleservices and HFCL-Essar were also expected to do the same on a reduced scale.

Among cellular companies there were no surprises because the market share of each player is announced every month by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). Bharti, BPL Mobile, Hutchison, Sterling (Essar) and BPL Cellular were the top five companies, according to the survey. Only Rs. 5 crores separated the top two companies - Bharti and BPL - and a similar difference decided the third and fourth slots.

The paging industry, presumed dead by most, is predicted to be on a comeback trail despite the news that Max Page and Usha Martin surrendered licences for 14 cities and many others could be on their way out. ``This is good as well as bad,'' reasons the survey. Good because the reduction in the number of players is likely to result in consolidation and bad because it has sent wrong signals to financiers. But following reports of a favourable package of concessions having been proposed by a high level expert panel, the survey feels a comeback is imminent over the next six months.

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