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Case Study: Reliance Comm. evolved GSM platform in record time

Reliance Communications is one of the top 10 telecom companies in the world, with a customer base of over 80 million. Although it only offered CDMA services initially, the company changed that in 2007-08, when it decided to offer GSM services as well. In doing so, it would attempt something no other operator in India had done before.

"The introduction of GSM services was a first of its kind in India in the sense that customers would be able to choose or switch between two different technologies (CDMA and GSM) with the same operator," says Dr Sumit Chowdhury, CIO, Reliance Communications. To lower the cost of doing business, the company wanted to re-purpose its existing IT infrastructure, including billing, customer acquisition, and other operations like its contact center.

Chowdhury's task was to create the IT platforms to support the rollout of GSM-based mobile services. He says his business wanted him to "replicate all CDMA business processes for GSM on the existing CDMA platform, saving cost and time."

The project to provide a single platform for cross-technology products and services to customers across 14 circles was conceptualized and started in May 2008. The IT platform was ready in November 2008 and it was in that six-month deadline that lay one of Chowdhury's biggest hurdles. "Ensuring the seamless integration and replication of all business processes for GSM within the expected timelines and using existing resources was a big challenge," says Chowdhury. He also had to work within constantly evolving parameters. For example, the initial base capacity planned for was 10 million subscribers. But mid-way through the project this changed to five million subscribers a month. And it did not help that he didn't have a prototype to work to. "The unavailability of a reference was another challenge," he says.

But he ensured that nothing derailed the Rs 10,000-crore project. The launch of services within a year of being awarded spectrum is a world record. The entire GSM project was completed six months ahead of schedule, says Chowdhury, completing in 15 months what other operators have taken 15 years to do.  RCOM is India's first and world's first (outside China) to add over four million new subscribers in 30 days.