areas of business | joint ventures, subsidiaries, associates | location 

Tata Teleservices (TTL) spearheads the Tata group’s presence in the telecom sector.

Incorporated in 1996, TTL is the pioneer of the CDMA 1x technology platform in India.

It has embarked on a growth path since the acquisition of Hughes Tele.com (India) [renamed Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra)] by the Tata group in 2002.

The company launched mobile operations in January 2005, under the brand name Tata Indicom and today, enjoys a pan-India presence through existing operations in all of India’s 22 telecom circles.

TTL is also the market leader in the fixed wireless telephony market. The company’s network has been rated as the ‘Least congested’ in India for six consecutive quarters by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India through independent surveys.

Areas of business
TTL became the first Indian private telecom operator to launch 3G services in India under the brand name Tata DOCOMO, with its recent launch in all the nine telecom circles where it bagged the 3G license. Through its association with NTT DOCOMO — one of the world’s leading mobile operators — the company finds itself favorably positioned to leverage this first-mover advantage. TTL's joint venture with NTT DOCOMO has also earned it a significant presence in the GSM space. Tata DOCOMO has received a pan-India license to operate GSM telecom services, and has been allotted spectrum in 18 telecom circles, in which it has rolled out GSM services.

The TTL bouquet comprises four other brands as well — Virgin Mobile, Walky (for fixed wireless phones), the Photon family (that provides a variety of options for wireless mobile broadband access), and T24. Of these, T24 was formed of a strategic partnership with Future Group to offer mobile telephony services on the GSM platform.

In December 2008, TTL announced a unique reverse equity swap strategic agreement between its telecom tower subsidiary, Wireless TT Info-Services and Quippo Telecom Infrastructure. The combined entity, later named Viom Networks, kicked off operations with 18,000 towers, thereby becoming the largest independent entity in this space. Viom Networks now has a portfolio of close to 45,000 towers and has the highest tenancy ratios in the industry.

Today, TTL, along with TTL (Maharashtra), serves over 84 million customers in more than 450,000 towns and villages across the country, with a bouquet of telephony services encompassing mobile services, wireless desktop phones, public booth telephony, wireline services and enterprise solutions.

Joint ventures, subsidiaries, associates

• Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra): formerly Hughes Tele.com (India) 
• Virgin Mobile India: a brand franchise arrangement with the Virgin Mobile group 
• Tata DOCOMO: joint venture with Tokyo-based NTT DOCOMO 
• T24: strategic partnership with Future Group 
• Viom: merger of telecom tower operations of TTL (Wireless TT Info-Services) and Quippo Telecom Infrastructure

Location
The company is headquartered in Mumbai, India.