I was surprised today to read advertisement by HFCL Connect to expand it’s services.
The fact remains that it is a marginal player in Punjab. I was under the impression that recent spurt in advertisements across Punjab was to attract customers and shore up it’s valuation. Nothing could be more far from truth. Given the fact that Airtel entered Punjab with a firm commitment to dominate the Broadband market. There was a clear trend in the market that Airtel would buy out HFCL in order to avoid duplication of infrastructure. The fact is that while there is a clear market for expansion in Wireless, Fixed line is more or less in a limbo. That had prompted BSNL to offer it’s broadband and speed up the deployment. It is expected to touch Mohali by the end of this month.
Connect suffers from the same syndrome as others do; they consider giving out bandwidth as a matter of doing a favour rather than actually serving out the customers. Faced with a lousy customer service and private initiative that had gone horribly wrong, their tarriffs are opaque; no transparency. It was in recent weeks that I started hearing about HFCL Connect in a new light; they had improved their biling and reduced the time frame to address complaints.
For how long can they sustain themselves? Spice Punjab has announced plans to expand in other markets. Connect is opening up it’s browsing centres on the pattern of Reliance Web World. While this is belated entry, it is enough to attract puppy crowds towards what they call as Broadband. It seems that much of the time is spent on chatting. So much for the “millions of Internet subscribers” do to access Internet. It cannot be generalised but a cross section of the surfers mainly use for Emailing and the like. A minorty are power users. It remains to be seen as to how HFCL survive.
Airtel hasn’t made any major moves in the market so far. Watch this space.
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