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Indian mobile operators plan more sops to retain customers
Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 20:30 IST
NEW DELHI: Indian mobile phone operators are expected to announce a fresh batch of concessions to face competition from the latest entrant into domestic telecom market, industry sources said Monday.
The panicky cellular service providers would meet Tuesday to take a decision on tariff cuts and other sops with a view to retain customers following the launch of cheaper limited radius cellular services.
Indian mobile phone operators sharply slashed the charges for long distance calls on January 2 after Reliance Infocomm announced the launch of its wireless telephony operations on December 27 at huge discounts.
All the leading private sector mobile service providers cut mobile-to-mobile domestic long-distance charges beyond 50 kilometres to 
2.99 a minute from a current peak of 9 a minute.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the country's leading cellular operators that included representatives of Bharti Tele-Ventures, Hutchison, Escotel, BPL Mobile and Spicecorp.
The mobile services companies had said they would announce new measures on a weekly basis to maintain their market share.
The tariff reduction by mobile phone operators comes close on the heels of the launch of wireless telephone operations, or wireless in local loop (WiLL) services, by Reliance Infocomm.
Reliance Infocomm, 45 percent owned by India's Reliance Industries, is offering a promotional three-year membership at 3,000, a free handset and a monthly payment of 600, which includes 400 minutes of talk time at 40 paise a minute.
Incoming calls, voicemail, text messaging and Internet access would all be free on the Reliance network. Based on its pricing strategy Reliance hopes to grab a 15 to 20 percent share of India's mobile market by the end of 2004.
Currently, Indian cellular companies charge a rupee a minute on an average for an outgoing call. The incoming calls are also charged.
Reliance uses cheaper code division multiple access (CDMA) technology for offering mobile services within city limits. Other cellular operators offering unlimited mobility work on the rival global system for mobile communications (GSM) platform.
Unlike cellular services on the GSM platform that can be used by customers when travelling, WiLL services on the CDMA platform are limited to a certain region, usually within the city area.
India, one of the fastest growing telecom markets globally, has seen a sharp decline in cellular airtime tariffs and mobile handset prices in the last couple of years as competition soared with the entry of new players.
The Indian cellular market has for the last few years been the most dynamic segment of the telecom industry and amongst the fastest growing.
The country has about 10.5 million mobile phone users now and it is forecast to grow by a compounded 52.5 percent to 30.9 million subscribers through 2005.
Source: IANS
2.99 a minute from a current peak of 9 a minute.
The decision was taken in a meeting of the country's leading cellular operators that included representatives of Bharti Tele-Ventures, Hutchison, Escotel, BPL Mobile and Spicecorp.
The mobile services companies had said they would announce new measures on a weekly basis to maintain their market share.
The tariff reduction by mobile phone operators comes close on the heels of the launch of wireless telephone operations, or wireless in local loop (WiLL) services, by Reliance Infocomm.
Reliance Infocomm, 45 percent owned by India's Reliance Industries, is offering a promotional three-year membership at 3,000, a free handset and a monthly payment of 600, which includes 400 minutes of talk time at 40 paise a minute.
Incoming calls, voicemail, text messaging and Internet access would all be free on the Reliance network. Based on its pricing strategy Reliance hopes to grab a 15 to 20 percent share of India's mobile market by the end of 2004.
Currently, Indian cellular companies charge a rupee a minute on an average for an outgoing call. The incoming calls are also charged.
Reliance uses cheaper code division multiple access (CDMA) technology for offering mobile services within city limits. Other cellular operators offering unlimited mobility work on the rival global system for mobile communications (GSM) platform.
Unlike cellular services on the GSM platform that can be used by customers when travelling, WiLL services on the CDMA platform are limited to a certain region, usually within the city area.
India, one of the fastest growing telecom markets globally, has seen a sharp decline in cellular airtime tariffs and mobile handset prices in the last couple of years as competition soared with the entry of new players.
The Indian cellular market has for the last few years been the most dynamic segment of the telecom industry and amongst the fastest growing.
The country has about 10.5 million mobile phone users now and it is forecast to grow by a compounded 52.5 percent to 30.9 million subscribers through 2005.
Source: IANS