Essay on Voice Cellcom Ltd Case Study

Submitted By Avinash-Dodda
Words: 1837
Pages: 8

Voice Cellcom Limited1
The Company
VOICE CELLCOM LIMITED is a joint

The company launched its commercial service

venture between the VOICE Enterprises and

in Indore in February 1997 and the network

Vodafone-AirTouch. VOICE Group, one of

has been augmented in various other locations

the leading business houses in the country,

in a phased manner.

holds 51% of the equity of VOICE Cellcom

Madhya Pradesh (MP) is located in central

Ltd., while Vodafone-AirTouch, one of the

India and includes cities such as, Indore,

world’s

Bhopal, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Raipur, Durg &

largest

wireless

communications

company, holds the balance 49%.

Bhillai which have fairly large industrial areas

VOICE Cellcom Limited (referred to as VCL

with substantial industrial activity. Bulk of the

from here onwards), has a license to provide

urban population and market potential is

GSM (Global System for Mobile Telephony)

concentrated in these cities.

Cellular telephone services in the state of

The organization of VCL is structured into

Madhya Pradesh for an initial period of 10

Technical, Sales & Marketing, Finance &

years from Dec 1995. At the time of receiving

Commercial,

the license the license fee agreed for the same

functions with three operating levels. Indore

was Rs. 51 crores which was replaced

and other cities in MP are not the preferred

subsequently in the New Telecom Policy of

locations. Attracting and retaining talent has

1999 with revenue sharing arrangement with

been a difficult task. However, the endeavor

the Department of Telecommunications.

has been to build a team with a blend of rich

GSM cellular standard which is now used in

experience and fresh talent.

over 86 countries, is a digital system which

The

provides better quality, higher capacity and

approximately 28 years with 70% of the

security from eavesdropping and fraud. GSM

personnel being below 30 years of age. The

entered commercial service operation in 1992

employee profile is fairly distributed between

in Europe. The Government has mandated the

Graduate

same

Graduates/Post Graduates. On the experience

GSM

technology for

all

cellular

operators in India.

IT

average

and

age

Engineers,

Human

of

Resources

employees

CA/MBA

is

and

front, about 65% of manpower has experience between 0 to 5 years.

1

This case is prepared as a basis of discussion. Cases are not designed to present illustrations of either correct or incorrect handling of administrative problems.

1

The total investment in the project has been to

Telecommunications

the tune of Rs 100 crores with many more

through Point of Interconnect (POI) at various

towns yet to be covered.

locations by using fibre network.

(DoT)

is

provided

Information system adhering to the world’s
The Operations

best practices is critical in management and

VCL intends to build and operate the network

administration of telecommunication network.

to world class standards through a centralized

The company has procured and installed state-

management and operating structure.

The

of-the-art IT infrastructure which includes the

network has been designed to meet all

BSCS (Billing System Control System) billing

international norms & specifications.

system

The network rollout is a critical factor in the

subscribers. However, the prepaid product is

cellular business as coverage is a crucial

still being billed through the homegrown

consideration for potential subscribers while

system, which has limited flexibility.

used

for

generating

bills

for

choosing a cellular service. A quick rollout ensures maximum utilization of the license

The Industry

period for revenue generation.

The cellular business is heavy investment &

Ericsson, the principal equipment supplier, is a

service driven. The cost of the license and

world leader in Cellular Technology. It has a

capital investment in the infrastructure is huge

market share better than 54% with complete

and