Case evidenced total interpretive structural modelling of service – network disintegration in Indian telecommunication sector

ABSTRACT

The Telecommunications industry has been a consistent witness to technological disruptions. The changes have transformed service consumption patterns, business models, revenue streams, and market compositions. This research is an industry-driven exploration of the factors and their inter-relationships associated with the disintegration of communication services from the underlying high-speed networks in the Indian telecommunication sector due to the availability of high-speed networks. Evidence of these factors and their linkages is found in the cases of Vodafone Idea telecom service provider and WhatsApp OTT communication provider. Our findings suggest an association of technological evolution in India with the emergence of new over-the-top (OTT) service-providing companies without a commercial or technical collaboration with telecom service providers (TSPs). The OTT players have successfully reached the customers without intervention from the TSPs. TSPs that were able to swiftly develop new business strategies to capitalize on their data service offerings, upgrade their network technology, and enhance their coverage could retain customers and revenue. Others who failed disappeared from the competition. The remaining few TSPs protected their dried-up revenue streams by merging with others. Rapid adaptation and consolidation through mergers were the strategies found to be effective in the cases discussed in the research.

KEYWORDS:

• Indian telecom service providers
• telecommunication sector
• total interpretive structural modeling
• over-the-top
• service network disintegration

Acknowledgments

The second author acknowledges the infrastructural support provided by the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. The infrastructural support provided by the FORE School of Management, New Delhi, India, to the third author in completing this article is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

The first author, Dr. Ravi Gandhi, is the chief officer in one of the major telecom service providers of India, Reliance Retail, and is a member of various national and international government bodies. However, there is no financial or non-financial conflict of interest as the research focuses on a broad qualitative view and discusses the publically available information about the two companies Vodafone Idea and WhatsApp with whom there is no past or present association with any of the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ravi Gandhi

Ravi Gandhi, Ph.D., is working at CXO level with Reliance Retail, India, and handles public policy & government/regulatory affairs. With an experience of around 30 years, He is also the chairman/member of several apex committees of various industry bodies, at national and international levels such as GSMA, COAI, CII, FICCI, and ASSOCHAM. Earlier, he was part of the Indian Telecommunication Service and served the Government of India for 14 years. Some of his major contributions include setting up the Telecom Enforcement, Resources and Monitoring Cells of the Department of Telecommunication in every Indian state for enforcement of the Indian Telegraph Act and License Conditions.

Charru Hasti

Charru Hasti, M.Tech, is a doctoral scholar and a project consultant at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India, with around 15 years of multidisciplinary experience in academia and industry across domains including information technology, global financial markets technology, public health communication, and digital communication.

Arbuda Sharma

Arbuda Sharma, Ph.D., has around 10 years of experience in leading academic and research institutions, in various domains like pharma, fashion, foreign trade, real estate and international business. She is currently teaching as a faculty in a business school in New Delhi, India.