The Indian telecom industry, one of the fastest-growing markets in the world, was at crossroads. The industry grew in two decades by focusing primarily on reducing voice call charges. By the end of 2016, a new entrant disturbed the strategies of all the incumbents. Reliance Jio, the new competitor, disrupted the market by promising completely free voice calls—hitherto staple revenue stream for the incumbents—and undercut data price to approximately tenth of incumbents’ prices. The resulting cacophony severely damaged the incumbents to the extent that Vodafone and Idea Cellular, the second and third largest incumbents, announced a merger. Airtel, the unchallenged market leader for more than 15 years, was bracing to face financial losses. The changed scenario posed several difficult questions to all the operators. Finding answers, though vital for existence, would prove to be a horrendous task. This case presents the students with the dilemma of how to face the new entrant, with unconventional strategies. This case will be ideal in the Business Strategy course.

中文翻译：

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2017 年印度电信：不确定性呼叫

印度电信业是世界上增长最快的市场之一，正处于十字路口。该行业通过主要专注于降低语音通话费用，在 20 年内实现了增长。到2016年底，一个新进入者扰乱了所有在位者的战略。新的竞争对手 Reliance Jio 通过承诺完全免费的语音通话（迄今为止老牌企业的主要收入来源）扰乱了市场，并将数据价格降低到老牌企业价格的大约十分之一。由此产生的不和谐对现有企业造成了严重损害，以至于沃达丰和第二大和第三大现有企业 Idea Cellular 宣布合并。Airtel 是超过 15 年无人挑战的市场领导者，正准备面临财务损失。变化的场景给所有运营商提出了几个难题。寻找答案，虽然对生存至关重要，但将被证明是一项可怕的任务。这个案例让学生们面临着如何以非常规策略面对新进入者的困境。这个案例将是商业战略课程的理想选择。