The unified licensing regime, implemented recently, is a major turning point for the Indian telecom industry.The Indian telecom industry is growing by leaps and bounds, that too at a time when the global telecom industry is in recession. Currently, the basic telephone services have recorded a growth rate of 22% annually and over 100% for cellular and Internet services. In January 2004, there were 24.74 million cellular mobile subscribers, and 6.98 million Wireless-in-Local-Loop (WLL) subscribers, taking the total to more than 30 million. The current Indian telecom market is around Rs. 8.1 bn that is expected to rise to Rs. 18 bn by 2010.

Two kinds of telephone services existed initially: The basic fixed line and the cellular mobile services. In an effort to increase the tele-density, the government opened up the basic services market for private participation. This move brought about the entry of Tata Teleservices (2001) and Reliance Infocomm (December 2002) with WLL based Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology. It provided fixed wireless service, thereby entering a field that was till then monopolized by the government controlled BSNL and MTNL. The WLL service is confined to Short Distance Charging Areas (SDCA) of 20-25 km. This way a proper distinction was maintained between the WLL and the cellular mobile operators. When Reliance Infocomm entered the WLL market with CDMA technology, it offered lower tariffs, compared to the cellular operators. This led to an intense battle between the telecom players who depended on Global Standard for Mobile (GSM) and those who used CDMA technology.