Introduction
Technology has played a vital role for the Indian telecom business for the last ten years by reforming telecom and industrial sectors providing a firm foundation.
The emerging application of semiconductor devices, computerized networks, software's to telecommunication reduced the tariff and increased the quality of service substantially. The evolution of technology has been mainly focused by changes in distribution channels as we see evidence from Mobile phones, Broadband Internet, SMS, and Bluetooth etc.
Standardization and network effects have become one of the most familiar topics, as the number of wireless telephone users has increased by huge margin and the application of wireless communication principle to telecommunication has become ever more versatile. In particular, network effect and standardization are most arguably the common reasons for concentrated market structures in intensive industries. Hence, it seems to be natural to consider progress in telecom technology as a reason for market consolidation given the nature of network in telecommunication.
The major challenge for Telecom Company is to fall in line with the emerging scenario and adopting the required technology and to provide state of art services to the customers. Technology should result in better customer service, low cost and ease of access.
Overview
One might remember the days when he/she should use post offices for communication purpose through letters and trunk calls because of manual telephone exchanges. With the introduction of auto exchanges, later he/she should use public telephone booths for his communication purpose. One of the most substantial changes in telecom technology is the recent introduction of Mobile phones.
As telecom technology has focused on reducing cost of distribution, new technologies in telecommunication are characterized as a process innovation by making customers handle their own communication without going to public booth.
Telecom competition is assessed in three different ways, Price (tariff), quantity (Subscriber base) and quality (network, reputation-relationship). Traditionally Telecom Company have competed in branch in exchange network (quantity) to increase the number of customers, i.e., subscriber base. However, with the benefit of new technologies, the quantity competition seems to be replaced by network competition in quality, volume of data transmission and other value added services.
Background of the study
Telecom sector is the spinal cord of sovereign economy of any country. India is no exception. The technology adaptation in telecom operations in India was few decade behind that of in developing countries. Since late 1980s Dept. of Telecom adapted digital communication technology in their telecom network. Technology was seen as a key business enabler in six vital areas of telecom operation viz. augmenting profit tool, operation efficiency, customer management, distribution and reach, product innovation and quality communication and settlement. Department of telecom expect that these developments in the areas of housekeeping and decision-making will improve the customer service levels and productivity, ultimately resulting in better profitability.
Indian government announced the new telecom policy in 1994. The new policy adopted by the government to improve the competitiveness in global market and fast growth of exports. Additional new economy policy was attracting foreign direct investment and domestic investment. Qualities are the important to achievement of this policy. It is necessary to give the maximum priority to the growth of telecom services in the country. The aim of the New Telecom Policy will be as follows.
Telephone density during 1994 in India is about 0.8% as against the world average of 10%. It is lower than many developing countries of Asia like China (1.7), Pakistan (2), Malaysia (13) etc. There are about 8000000 lines with a waiting list of around 2.5 million. Almost 1.4 lakhs villages, out of a total of 5, 76,490 villages in the country, are cover by telephone services. There are more than 1, 00,000 public call offices in the metropolitan areas.
In view of the expansion of the economy and the demand, it was essential to revise the eight Plans are as follows.
In order to achieve standards comparable to the international facilities, the sub-sector of value-added services was opened up to private investment in July 1992 for the following services:
According to these services companies registered in India are permitted to operate under permit on non-exclusive basis. This policy will be continued. In view of the constraint on the number of companies that can be allowed to work in the area of Radio Paging and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service, on the other hand, a policy of selection is being followed in award of licenses through a system of tender. This policy will be continued and the following criterion will be applied for selection.
Technology and strategic aspects
Telecommunication is an essential infrastructure. It is also technology exhaustive. It is, therefore, essential that the management policy in the telecom sector is such that the inflow of technology is made easy and India does not lag behind to getting the full benefit of the rising new technologies. A uniformly important feature is the strategic aspect of telecom, which affect the national and public interests. It is necessary to support original technology, set up an appropriate funding mechanism for unique Research and development so that the Indian Technology can meet up the national demand and also compete worldwide.
NTP 1994 also acknowledged that the required resources for attain these targets would not be available only out of Government source and proficient that private investment and participation of the private sector was required to relate the resource gap. The Government invites private sector contribution in a phased manner from the early nineties, initially for value added services such as Paging Services and Cellular Mobile Telephone Services (CMTS) and for Fixed Telephone Services (FTS). After a viable request process, licenses were award to eight CMTS operators in the four metropolitan, 14 CMTS operators in 18 states.
The Government authorized that the result of the privatization has so far not been entirely suitable. While the fast crush of cellular mobile networks in the metropolitan and states with currently over one million subscribers, most of the projects today are facing some problems. Basic telecom services by private operators have only just commence in a limited way in two of the six circles where licenses were award As a result, some of the target as envisage in the objectives of the NTP 1994 have remained discontented. The private sector entry is slower than this sector.
Telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) was established in the year 1997, the independent regulator established by the Government of India to control the telecommunication business in India.
Require for a new telecom policy
In addition some aims of NTP 1994 not being satisfied; there have also been far reaching developments in the recent past in the telecom, IT, electronics consumer, media, and industries world-wide. Combination of both markets and technologies is a reality that is forcing realignment of the industry. At one level, telephone and broadcasting industries are entering each other's markets, while at another level; technology is blur the difference between different channel systems like wireless. In many countries separate licenses have been issued. The new telecom policy framework is also required to facilitate India's vision of becoming an IT superpower and develop a world class telecom infrastructure in the country.
The objectives of the NTP 1999 are as follows
Problem discussion
It is well known that most of individuals are late adopters of telecommunication and its application with regards to Mobile phones. Since most of the customers are late adopters, it seems that Mobile phone is facing many difficulties. Some issues are:
Problem definition
Tradition landline based telecommunication remains the most widespread method for conducting communication.
However, Mobile phone technology is rapidly changing the way personal telecom services are being designed and delivered. Many telecom companies are trying to introduce new services to improve their operations and to reduce costs. In spite of all their efforts aimed at developing better and easier Mobile phone system, these systems remained largely unnoticed by the customers, and certainly were seriously underused in spite of their availability. Therefore, there is a need to understand users' acceptance of Mobile phone communication, and need to identify the factors that can affect their intention to use Mobile phone communication.
Objectives
The main objectives of this study are
Limitations of study
This study was conducted to find the mediating effects on technology adoption in Mobile phone services. As, such, there is still room for further investigation into the adoption of Mobile phone services.
Literature review
Basics of wireless technology
The facility to communicate with people on the move has evolved remarkably since Guglielmo Marconi first demonstrated radio's capability to provide uninterrupted contact with ships sailing the English Channel in 1897and then new wireless communications methods and services have been excitedly adopted by people throughout the world. Particularly in last Fourteen years, the mobile radio communications industry has developed by orders of magnitude, fueled by digital and Radio Frequency circuit fabrication improvements, new large-scale circuit integration, and other miniaturization technologies which make portable radio equipments slighter, cheaper, and more consistent. Digital switching techniques had facilitated the large scale exploitation of affordable, easy-to-use radio communication networks. These trends will carry on, even better pace during the next decade.
Evolution of Mobile Radio Communications
A brief history of the evolution of mobile communications throughout the world is useful in order to appreciate the enormous impact that cellular radio and Personal Communication Services (PCS) will have on all of us over the next several decades. It is also useful for a newcomer to the cellular radio field to understand the tremendous impact that government regulatory agencies and service competitors wield in the evolution of new wireless system, services, and technologies. While it is not the intent of this study to deal with the techno-political aspects of cellular radio and personal communications, techno-politics are a fundamental driver in the evolution of new technology and services, since radio spectrum usage is controlled by governments, not by service providers, equipment manufacturers, entrepreneurs, or researchers. Progressive involvement in technology development is a vital for a government if it hopes to keep its own country competitive in the rapidly changing field of wireless personal communications.
Wireless communications is enjoying its fastest growth period in history, due to enabling technologies which permit widespread deployment. Historically, growth in the mobile communication field has come slowly, and has been coupled closely to technological improvements. The ability to provide wireless communications to an entire population was not even conceived until Bell Laboratories developed the cellular concept in the 1960s and 1970s [Nob62], [Mac79], [You 79]. With the development of highly reliable, miniature, solid-state radio frequency hardware in the 1970s, the wireless communications era was born. The recent exponential growth in cellular technologies are matured when compared to 1970s.The future growth of consumer-based mobile and portable communication systems will be tied more closely to radio spectrum allocations and regulatory decisions which affect or support new or extended services, as well as to consumer needs and technology advances in the signal processing, access, and network areas.
Illustrates how mobile telephony has penetrated our daily lives compared with the other popular inventions of the 20th century. Figure 2.1is a bit misleading since the curve labeled "mobile telephone" does not include the non telephone mobile radio applications, such as paging, amateur radio, dispatch, citizens band (CB), public service cordless phone, or terrestrial microwave radio systems. In fact, in 1990, licensed non cellular radio systems in the U.S had over 12 million users, more than twice the U.S cellular user population at that time [FCC91]. With the phenomenal growth of wireless subscribers in the late 1990s, combined with Nextel's novel business approach of purchasing private mobile radio licenses for bundling as a nationwide commercial cellular service, today's subscriber base for cellular and Personal Communication Services (PCS) far outnumbers all non cellular licensed users. Figure 1.1 shows that the first 35 years of mobile telephony saw little market penetration due to high cost and the technological challenges involved, but how, in the past decade, wireless communications has been accepted by consumers at rates comparable to television and the video cassette/compact disc player.
In 1946, the first public mobile telephone service was introduced in twenty-five major American cities. Each system used a single, high-powered transmitter and large tower in order to cover distances of over 50km in a particular market.
Examples of Wireless Communication Systems
Most people are familiar with a number of mobile radio systems used in everyday life. Garage door openers, remote controllers for home entertainment equipment, cordless telephones, hand-held walkie-talkies, pagers (also called paged receivers or "beepers"), and cellular telephones are all examples of mobile radio communication systems. However, the cost, complexity, performance, and types of services offered by each of these mobile systems are vastly different.
The term mobile has historically been used to classify any radio terminal that could be moved during operation. More recently, the term mobile is used to describe a radio terminal that is attached to a high speed mobile platform(e.g., a cellular telephone in a fast moving vehicle) where as the term portable describes a radio terminal that can be hand-held and used by someone at walking speed(e.g., walkie-talkie or cordless telephone inside a home). The term subscriber is often to describe a mobile or portable user because in most mobile communication systems, each user pays a subscription fee to use the system, and each user's communication is called a subscriber unit
Paging Systems
Paging systems are communication systems that send brief messages to a subscriber. Depending on the type of service, the message may be a numeric message, an alphanumeric message, or a voice message. Paging systems are typically used to notify a subscriber of the need to call a particular telephone number or travel to a known location to receive further instructions. In modern paging systems, new headlines, stock quotations, and faxes may be sent.
Cordless Telephone systems
Cordless telephone systems are communication systems to connect portable handset to a dedicated telephone line with a specific telephone number on the public switched telephone network (PSTN). In the first generation cordless telephone systems (manufactured in the 1980s), the portable unit communicates only to the dedicated base unit and only over distances of a few tens of meters. Early cordless telephones operate solely as extension telephones to a transceiver connected to a subscriber line on the PSTN and are primarily for in-home use.
Second generation cordless telephones have recently been introduced which allow subscribers to use their handsets at many outdoor locations within urban centers such as London or Hong Kong. Modern cordless telephones are sometimes combined with paging receivers so that a subscriber may first be paged and then respond to the page using the cordless telephone. Cordless telephone systems provide the user with limited range and mobility, as it is usually not possible to maintain a call if the user travels outside the range of base station.
Cellular Telephone Systems
A cellular telephone system provides a wireless connection to the PSTN for any user location within the radio range of the system. Cellular systems accommodate a large number of users over a large geographic area, within a limited frequency spectrum. Cellular radio systems provide high quality service that is often comparable to that of the landline telephone systems. High capacity is achieved by limiting the coverage of each base station transmitter to a small geographic area called a cell so that the same radio channels may be reused by another base station located some distance away. A sophisticated switching technique called a handoff enables a call to proceed uninterrupted when the user moves from one cell to another.
Trends in Cellular Radio and personal Communications
Since 1989, there has been enormous activity throughout the world to develop personal wireless systems that combine the network intelligence of today's PSTN with modern digital signal processing and RF technology.
A worldwide standard, the Future Public land Mobile Telephone System renamed Internal Mobile Telecommunication 2000(IMT-2000) in mid-1995- has been formulated by the International telecommunications Union(ITU) which is the standards body for the United Nations, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
In emerging nations, where existing telephone service is almost nonexistent, fixed cellular systems are being installed at a rapid rate. This is due to the fact that developing nations are finding it is quicker and more affordable to install cellular telephone systems for fixed home use, rather than install wires in neighborhoods which have not yet received telephone connections to the PSTN.
The world is undergoing a major telecommunication revolution that will provide ubiquitous communication access to citizen, wherever they are. The wireless telecommunications industry requires engineers who can design and develop new wireless systems, make meaning comparisons of competing systems, and understand the engineering trade-offs that must be made in any system.
Modern Wireless Communications Systems
Since the mid 1990s, the cellular communications industry has witness explosive growth. Wireless communications networks have become much more persistent than anyone could have imagined when the cellular concept was first developed in the 1960s and 1970s. The worldwide cellular and personal communication subscriber base surpassed 600 million users in late 2001. And the number of individual subscribers is projected to reach 2 billion (30% of the world's population) by the end of 2006. Indeed, most countries throughout the world continue to experience cellular subscription increases of 40% or more per year.
The rapid worldwide growth in cellular telephone subscribers has demonstrated conclusively that wireless communications is a robust, practical voice and data transport mechanism. The wide spread success of cellular has led to the development of new wireless systems and standards for many other types of telecommunication traffic besides mobile voice telephone calls. The demand for everywhere, personal communications is driving the development of new networking techniques that accommodate mobile voice and data users who move throughout buildings, cities, or countries.
Conception of mobile phone communication
Mobile phone communication means that telecom services such as services, Prepaid, Postpaid services, SMS and MMS for Value added services, Internet, Data communication, Bluetooth, Call forwarding, Call waiting, Personal Ring Back Tone(PRBT), Voice Mail etc.,
Mobile phone communication in India
Growth of mobile technology
Now a day's India has one of the highest-growing mobile markets in the world. The mobile services are commercially launched in August 1995 in India. In the initial 5-6 years the average monthly subscribers is around 0.05 to 0.1 million only and the total mobile subscribers base in December 2002 stand at 10.5 millions. After the number of practical initiatives taken by regulator and licensor, the monthly mobile subscriber is increased to nearly 2 million per month in the period of 2003to 2005.
New Telecom Policy 1994 was implemented the growth was delayed in the early years because of the sky-scraping price of handsets as well as the huge rate structure of mobile telephones. The New Telecom Policy in 1999, the industry heralds several pro consumer initiatives. Mobile sales were increased. The number of mobile phones added all over the country in 2003 was 16 million, followed by 22 million in 2004, 32 million in 2005 and 65 million in 2006. The only country with more mobile phones than India with 246 million mobile phones is China - 408 million.
India has opted to the use of both GSM (global system for mobile communications) and CDMA (code-division multiple access) technologies in the mobile sector. In addition to landline and mobile phones, many of the companies also provide the WLL service.
The mobile tariffs in India is also become lowest in the world. A new mobile connection can be activated with a monthly commitment of US$0.15 only. In 2005 alone 32 million handsets were sold in India. The data shows the real potential for growth of the Indian mobile market.
In March 2008 the GSM and CDMA mobile subscriber in the country was 375 million, which represent a nearly 50% growth when compared to previous year.
In April 2008 the Department of Telecom (Dot) in India has directed all mobile phone service users to discontinue the usage of unbranded Chinese mobile phones that don't have International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers, because they create a serious security risk to the country. Mobile network operators therefore planned to defer the usage of around 30 million mobile phones (about 8% of all mobiles in the country) by April 30.
Research methodology
Introduction
The study is an attempt to examine customer's adoption of new technologies in telecom services operators in Indian districts. Some of the telecom operators are TATA Indicom, RELIANCE, BSNL, AIRTEL, AIRCEL, and VODAFONE.
Pilot study
Data collection, with the above procedure to conduct a pilot study to ensure that the survey materials are clear and did not provoke any confusion or problems for telecom customers. The draft questionnaire was eventually subjected to pilot testing with a customer's working in different concerns within the districts.
Construct measures and data collection
Data were to be collected by means of a structured questionnaire comprising seven sections namely A, B, C, D, E, F and G (see Appendix). Section A consists of three questions pertaining to Technology Awareness (TA). Section B consists of four questions pertaining to Security(S). Section C consists of five questions pertaining to Technology Services (TS). Section D consists of two questions, Section E consist of one question and Section F consists of four question related to Age, Education and Technology respectively. Finally Section G consists of eighteen questions pertaining to customers Observe ability, Relative advantage, Compatibility, Trial ability and Simplicity in Technology Adoption were given.
All the items in Sections A to G were presented as statements on the questionnaire, with the same rating scale used throughout, and measured on a seven-point, Like rt-type scale that varied from 1 highly dissatisfied to 7 highly satisfied.
For conducting an empirical study, data were collected from different telecom customers, who are inexperienced or experienced users of Mobile phones.
Procedure for data analysis
The data collected were analyzed for the entire sample. Data analyses were performed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) using techniques that included descriptive statistics, Correlation analysis and AMOS package for Structural Equation Modeling and Bayesian estimation testing.
Structural equation modeling
The main study used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) because of two advantages: "(1) estimation of multiple and interrelated dependence relationships, and (2) the ability to represent unobserved concepts in these relationships and account for measurement error in the estimation process" (Hair et al., 1998, p.584). In other words, a series of split but independent multiple regressions were simultaneously estimated by SEM. Therefore, the direct and indirect effects were identified (Tate, 1998). AMOS 7.0(Arbuckle and Wothke, 2006), a computer program formulating, fitting and testing Structural Equation Models(SEM) to observed data was used for SEM and the data preparation was conducted with SPSS 13.0. Linear Structural Equation Models (SEMs) are widely used in sociology, econometrics, management, biology, and other sciences.
Sources of data
Data collection
The process of gathering and measuring information on variables of interest, in an established systematic fashion that enables one to answer stated research questions, test hypotheses, and evaluate outcomes.
The act, process of capturing raw or primary data from a single source or from multiple sources.
Primary data
A primary data is a data, which is collected for the first time for a particular interest to have more information. Here the primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire from the mobile phone customers.
Research instrument
The research instrument used is the questionnaire. Questionnaire is the sheet containing records relating to certain aspects regarding which researcher has to collect data. The questionnaire used in the research consists of close-ended and open-ended questions to obtain the view of respondents.
The primary data have to be collected from the respondents through the questionnaire method:
A type of measurement instrument that yields a single score by arithmetically combining responses to a number of items (statements/questions with several possible responses represented on some form of scale), where each item attempts to measure one aspect of the factor being measured.
Secondary data
The secondary data was collected from the various magazines, journals and various web sites.
Data source
The data was collected through both primary and secondary data sources. Primary data was collected through a questionnaire. The research was done in the form of direct approach.
A proposed conceptual model
Mediation refers to a process or mechanism through which one variable (exogenous) cause's variation in another variable (endogenous). Studies designed to test for moderation may provide stronger tests of mediation than the partial and whole covariance approaches typically used. It is useful to distinguish between moderation and mediation. Moderation carries with it no connotation of causality, unlike mediation which implies a causal order. Based on these arguments the following hypotheses are formulated.
Dimensions of the study
The above dimensions are used in this study which discusses about the awareness of new technologies to customers, security system in using it, and their adoption level through observability, relative advantage, compatibility, Trial ability and simplicity.
