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
