Customers will force Airtel, Vodafone, Jio into battle for market share

In a letter to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recently, Reliance Jio Infocomm accused Bharti Airtel of introducing discriminatory tariff plans in the marketplace and using misleading advertisements to promote its services. To many, it was nothing but round two of a bruising telecom battle that began when Reliance Jio entered the market nine months ago doing much the same that it now accuses competitors of doing: Undercutting rivals and offering freebies to consumers.

While Jio had a free run till March this year notching up over 100 million subscribers in the process, experts say that sanity in terms of pricing and promotions will eventually prevail. But for the moment, the price and discount focused Indian customer is forcing brands into one of the biggest battles for market share.

“There will likely be a spike in consumers switching across all mobile carriers. As a result, they (mobile carriers or telecom operators) will be making quick reactive decisions based on the competitive scenario,” Paul Moore, director, global, Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, part of the WPP Group, said. “Mobile carriers will place more emphasis on products and services to add value and lock in users,” he says.

GraphKantar Worldpanel ComTech is the largest continuous consumer research mobile phone tracking panel in the world and India is the nineteenth addition to the list of markets tracked, indicating its importance, Moore says. Most telecom majors are already beginning to indulge in reactive decisions, offering tariff plans based on lifestyle, usage, occupation, gender and age. The spending pattern of subscribers has come sharply into focus, he says, as most players determine which plan will suit the consumer’s need.

There is a reason why telcos in India are doing this, he says. Average monthly spend on mobile services is lowest in India vis-a-vis the Comtech panel’s other markets, which includes the US, UK, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Russia, Germany, Italy, France, Australia, China and Japan.

Moore says India’s average monthly spend stands at merely $2.5 or Rs 161 based on the current exchange rate ($1 = Rs 64.55). Compare this with China’s average monthly spend and it stands at $8.7 or Rs 562, Brazil’s $7.6 or Rs 491 and Mexico’s $10.7 or Rs 691.
READ MORE

BSNL gives Reliance Jio a run for its money, offers 270 GB for Rs 333

To counter threat from Reliance Jio, state-run telecom firm Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), is the latest to join the bandwagon after Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel as it has announced three new schemes ranging from Rs 333 to Rs 395.

Here are the three new offers — Triple Ace, Dil Khol Ke Bol and Nehle per Dehla that have been launched for existing pre-paid users.

Rs 333 Triple Ace plan: Offering unlimited 3G data with a per day cap usage of 3 GB, this plan has a validity of 90 days. This amounts to 90 GB a month and 270 GB 3G data for three months. While the cheap rates at Rs 1.23 per GB is a catch, other operators offering 4G speed can be a drawback for BSNL.

Rs 349 Dil Khol Ke Bol plan: Enticing customers with unlimited local and STD calling, this plan offers high speed 3G data with a daily cap of 2GB, valid for 90 days as well. However, whether the unlimited calls are valid across other networks except BSNL is not known yet.

Rs 395 Nehle pe Dahla plan: Apart from offering unlimited data with a limit of 2GB data per day, users will also get 3,000 minutes free calls within BSNL network, and 1,800 minutes free for calls to all other networks. Upon exhausting the daily download limit, the speed will drop to 80 kbps. Unlike the other two plans, this one has a validity of 71 days, which equals to nearly 10 weeks.

The above-mentioned data plans are meant to take on Reliance Jio’s plans priced at Rs 309 and Rs 509 that offers unlimited calling, national roaming, free SMS across India. For the Rs 309 plan, a user gets 1GB 4G data per day valid for 84 days, whereas, the Rs 509 plan offers 2GB 4G data valid for 84 days as well.

Additionally, BSNL also revamped the benefits of STV339 plan.

Reliance Jio has become the largest broadband service provider in the country within three months of its commercial launch. It has 52.23 million broadband customers.

BSNL continues to dominate the broadband market in fixed line services segment with 9.95 million customers and ranks fifth in mobile broadband space with 20.39 million subscribers.
READ MORE