My dear fellow Shareowners,
I am delighted to say that Reliance Communications (RCOM) has turned in
a year of steady performance in the face of ferce and intensifying
competition in the telecom sector. Through the year, we consolidated
our position in the market and are now on the verge of reaching the
magic 150 million wireless subscribers mark. As before, we remain
uniquely placed in the industry in being able to offer our growing base
of loyal subscribers the choice of world class services on CDMA, GSM
and 3G technology platforms.
With a customer base of 142 million as on March 31, 2011, RCOM is today
the world''s 4th largest operator in terms of number of customers in a
single country. Our corporate clientele includes over 35,000 Indian and
multinational corporations including small and medium enterprises and
over 800 global, regional and domestic carriers. Our enterprise
customers include 850 of the top 1,000 enterprises in India.
We have come a long way since launching our pan-India services 8 years
ago, and even more so since kicking off our- pan-India GSM services a
little over 2 years ago. During this period, we have been widely
recognized in the industry for pioneering Telecom Inclusion in India
by giving the aam aadmi the opportunity to avail of world class
communication services at amazingly affordable prices. As a result, a
mobile phone connection, which was regarded as a luxury by most people
less than 10 years ago, is now seen as an absolute necessity for
practically everyone in the country.
RCOM alongwith its wholly owned subsidiary Reliance Telecom Limited has
won 3G spectrum in 13 circles, the highest number of circles won by any
operator in the auction. RCOM demonstrated its all round execution and
innovation capabilities by becoming the first operator to offer 3G
services to customers in the top 3 metro circles of Delhi, Mumbai and
Kolkata in a record time of 100 days of receiving 3G spectrum. As on
date, we have rolled out 3G services in all the circles for which we
won 3G spectrum, covering nearly 330 census towns. Today, our Company
is the only operator in India that has both the highest,13 circle,
coverage in 3G as well as a pan- India 3G-like capability in CDMA
technology. These initiatives will help us in achieving our vision of
creating a Wirefree India powered by our world-class ''affordable 3G
for All'' platform. During this fiscal and going forward, we expect new
data- centric innovations in terms of products and services on the 3G
platform, which will give new impetus to data traffic growth in the
industry. In addition to continuing on conventional voice- based model,
we are now focusing to provide innovative and affordable high-speed
data services catering to the needs of all customer segments. We look
forward to strengthening our leadership position in voice as well as in
data services.
Performance review
The financial year 2011 witnessed hyper competitive environment
in the telecom industry resulting in substantial decrease in tariff
rates. Despite this, RCOM was able to achieve reasonable top
-line growth during the year.
The key financial highlights on a consolidated basis are:
Total income of Rs. 23,108 crore (US$ 5,182 million), as against
Rs. 22,132 crore (US$ 4,903 million) in last financial year.
Net profit of Rs. 1,346 crore (US$ 302 million), as against
Rs. 4,655 crore (US$ 1,031 million) in previous financial year.
Cash Earnings Per Share (Cash EPS) of Rs. 38.81 (US$ 0.87) as against Rs.
41.30 (US$ 0.91) in the previous year and Basic Earnings Per Share
(EPS) of Rs. 6.52 (US$ 0.15), as against Rs. 22.55 (US$ 0.50) in the
previous financial year.
Our Net Worth of Rs. 35,752 crore (US$ 8,017 million) puts us among the
top Indian private sector companies.
Treading along Growth path
RCOM is India''s truly integrated and fully-converged telecommunications
service provider. We operate across the full spectrum of wireless,
wireline, voice, data, video and Internet communication services. We
also have an extensive international presence through the provision of
long distance voice, data and Internet services and submarine cable
network infrastructure globally.
- Our customer base exceeds 142 million as on March 31, 2011 and
includes over 2.5 million overseas retail customers and 3.5 million
Reliance Digital TV customers.
- We are the world''s 4th largest operator in terms of number of
customers in a single country.
- We own and operate the world''s largest next generation IP-enabled
connectivity infrastructure, comprising over 277,000 route kilometers
of fibre optic cable systems in India, USA, Europe, Middle East and the
Asia Pacific region.
- Our corporate clientele includes over 35,000 Indian and multinational
corporations including small and medium enterprises and over 800
global, regional and domestic carriers.
- Our enterprise customers include 850 of the top 1000 enterprises in
India.
- We have built India''s one of the largest portfolio of multi- tenancy
towers offering integrated infrastructure solutions.
We offer nationwide Direct-To-Home satellite TV services, employing
state-of-the-art MPEG4 technology to deliver over 250 channels in
HD-like quality.
Segments
1) Wireless
We are among India''s top two operators with over 136 million wireless
subscribers as on March 31, 2011 across a comprehensive portfolio of
services, including mobile, PCO, fixed wireless and data card segments.
We have been at the forefront of innovation in the wireless sector:
- Following the success of our first three Simply Reliance Initiatives,
we have announced the extension of Simply Reliance through another
ground-breaking ''Simply Unlimited CDMA'' Offer, as part of 100 Million
Customers Milestone celebrations
- During the year, we expanded our CDMA wireless broadband (High Speed
Data) service coverage to 518 towns
- We have soft-launched 3G services in 330 towns in 13 circles where we
won spectrum in auction
- Pan-India data footprint
2) Global
Reliance Globalcom spearheads the global telecom operations of RCOM.
Our global business serves over 2,100 enterprises, 250 carriers and 2.5
million retail customers over 160 countries across 5 continents.
Reliance Globalcom brings together the synergies of Global Business
encompassing Enterprise Services, Capacity Sales, Managed Services and
a highly successful bouquet of retail products and services comprising
Global Voice, Internet Solutions and Value Added Services.
Reliance Globalcom owns and operates the world''s largest next
generation IP-enabled connectivity infrastructure, comprising over
277,000 route kilometers of fibre optic cable systems in India, USA,
Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. In India, we provide
long distance business services including wholesale voice, bandwidth
and infrastructure services. Globally, we are the carrier''s carrier for
voice, bandwidth and enterprise data services.
3) Enterprise Broadband
RCOM offers the most comprehensive portfolio of enterprise voice, data,
video, Internet and IT infrastructure services catering to large,
medium and small enterprises for their communications, networking and
IT infrastructure needs. Currently, we operate in almost 50 cities of
India with over 1.1 million buildings connected directly to our
network. In all, we serve nearly 1.5 million access lines. Over 850 of
the top 1,000 companies in India are our customers. Our Optical Fiber
Cable backbone network of 190,000 route kms supports seamless last
mile Broadband connectivity to over 1.1 million building across 1,400
cities. Our Metro Ethernet network is one of the largest in the world,
having currently approx. 37,000 nodes. We have one of the largest
Internet Data Center (IDC) capacities occupying more than 450,000 sq ft
in India, across 9 data centers with a market share of more than 60 per
cent.
4) Telecom Infrastructure
We are leveraging our extensive capability to offer a wide range of
services as an integrated service provider across the whole
infrastructure value chain. Our aim is to provide a fast track solution
to our clients, both for ongoing expansion of our existing telecom
operators and the roll out plans of the new ones.
We have achieved a unique position vis-à-vis other providers with
better quality tower, carriage and transport infrastructure backed by a
unified approach as an integrated service provider.
5) Home
Our Direct To Home (DTH) digital TV Business has moved into its 3rd
full year of operations. This financial year, we have launched the stand
alone High Definition (HD) Set Top Box (STB), completing the most
comprehensive product line up inclusive of Standard Definition (SD), HD
and HD Digital Video Recorder(DVR) STB. We also introduced a new
technology advancement which made us the 1st operator to offers all 250
channels in HD like quality.
Corporate Governance
RCOM has always maintained the best governance standards and practices
by adopting, as is the norm for all constituent companies of the Group,
the Reliance Group - Corporate Governance Policies and Code of
Conduct. These Policies and Code prescribe a set of systems, processes
and principles, which conform to the highest international standards
and are reviewed periodically to ensure their continuing relevance,
effectiveness and responsiveness to the needs of investors, both local
and global, and all other stakeholders.
Social Commitment
We have undertaken several important initiatives and measures in the 6
core areas of environment, community development, education, women''s
empowerment, social awareness and health, signifying our continued and
long-standing commitment to social and community welfare.
Our Commitment
Our founder, the legendary Shri Dhirubhai Ambani, gave us a simple
mantra: to aspire to the highest global standards of quality,
efficiency, operational performance and customer care. We remain
committed to upholding that vision. Dhirubhai exhorted us to think big.
With your continued support, we will think bigger. Indeed not just
bigger but better, creating ever greater value for all our
stakeholders.
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani
Chairman
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