INDIA- An Overview of Telecom Industry By Terry Sandhu Vice President Business Development HCC Canada ( (Your local Partner for India Market) JULY 2003

HCC Background... HCC Canada is co-founded in Canada in 1994 as Hi-Tech Communications Consortium (HCC) by Terry Sandhu. HCC Canada (India) Ltd., registered in 2002 in India, 100% owned subsidiary, located in New Delhi, India. HCC Canada operates in India through its own subsidiary and a network of 15 ASSOCIATES located at Bangalore, Bombay, Calcutta & Ahemdabad and other major cities.

Founders Background An Electronic Engineer by Profession. Graduated from University of Delhi in FELLOW of Institution of Electronic & Telecom Engineers (IETE), India. Served for 18 years at senior positions with Crown Corporations, Government of India. Served with Alcatel, France as Consultant from to induct SONET/SDH technology into India. Migrated to Canada in 1994 and since then working as Consultant assisting North American companies to establish in India.

INDIA- Political scene : CONGRESS Regime : BJP (Opposition) : CONGRESS Regime : CONGRESS Regime : CONGRESS Regime onward: BJP (Opposition)

INDIA-Business Culture World’s largest Democracy Indian Constitution in English-British Pattern. Main Business Language-English World’s largest English speaking cheap technical manpower. 300million rich median class with high purchasing power.

INDIA- Closed Economy Opens-Contd… : 49% Foreign Investment/Equity allowed in India : Cap on Foreign Investment /equity forcing foreign companies to leave India ( Coca-Cola/IBM etc) : Manufacturing of Telecom equipments opened to the Private Sector : Telecom recognized as important Infrastructure industry to fuel economy growth as power, Oil & Gas, Rail & Roads, Ports etc..

INDIA- Closed Economy Opens : De-regulation of Telecom sector to end Monopoly of PTT/Reduction of import duty from 80% to 35%(5% on handsets/0% on software) : Licenses issued to Private operators in Basic telephony/ Cellular phones /Paging/VSAT/ TV Uplinking /CATV industry /ISPs/ TRAI set up/NTP1999 announced onward: Dis-investment continues in major public sector allowing foreign companies to invest in India(100% equity as ISP)

INDIA- Telecom Licenses Basic Telephone : 28 Cellular Mobile: 35 Radio Paging: 97 Internet Service Providers: 144 VSAT operators: 10 GMPCS: 2 DTH Service:2

INDIA- Telecom Subscribers scene Telephone Connections:40 million TV house holds: 60 million CATV subscribers: 40 million Cell Phones subscribers:12 million Internet Connections:2.5 million VSAT Terminals:70,000

INDIA- Telecom & Broadcast Trade Shows Communications India: March CATV/Broadcast India: November, Bombay Engineering Trade Fair: November, Delhi

INDIA- Foreign Companies in Communication India Trade show-March 2003 CHINA – 30 USA- 29 UK- 17 France -14 ISRAEL – 6 Korea/Germany- 5 each Canada-2

INDIA- Good News for Foreign Companies Equity allowed up to 49%. 100% Profits can be taken out of India. Dropping customs duty (Max. 5 to 35%)- Slogan: import chips not potato chips Telecom regulation in place(TRAI). TAX holiday for 5 years for setting up industry in rural area.

INDIA- “Some mixed views of CEOs in Telecom Sector” “Indian Telecom sector is at a crossroads and faces an uncertain future.” “Current licensees who badly miscalculated the Indian market and committed themselves to huge license fees, which they are unable to pay” “Key policy issues are still unresolved and still limits technology options” “Financing is a challenge” “Despite uncertainty, telecom industries are growing, changing and converging – driven by the internet.” “There are new technologies, new players and even some new policies”

INDIA- Telecom Thanks you Terry Sandhu