Mobiles:

The quest for consumer has been brought in focus. As the metros become saturated, the focus is slowly shifting to rural areas. Arguably, the mobile phones increase the GDP of the nation. However, a pertinent point needs to be made.

The rural consumption can effectively measured by the consumption of food grains. I remember, there was a debate to the same effect in Business Standard. The food grains consumption has been decreasing over a period of time; meaning thereby that there is less of disposable cash. Further, health care costs account for the rural indebtedness.

I wouldn’t like to paint a rosy picture of “millions” of subscribers here. For arguments sake, in a nation of billion if 100 million ultimately have mobile phones, it means that 1 in every 10 Indian is connected. This is highly idealised statistic because, I have been arguing on this blog that companies don’t follow a universally accepted method of counting the subscribers. Further, there is no independent verification of the same. It means that numbers are highly suspect. Probably, the numbers are hyped up to either increase the valuation or hoard up spectrum. (Spectrum allocation increases as the subscriber base increases).

In this age of increasing health care costs, chronic disease burden, malnutrition et al take their toll. I really wonder whether the rural folk would have enough cash to dispense the money to go mobile. There is a strong possibility that current target is the low spending customer in the fringes of metros; consequently a high demand for second hand mobiles in these areas. Further, the marketing thrust is more active in “category B and C” towns which have remained out of the marketing radar. Hence, recent spate to introduce bundled low cost “chinese” phones. Uugh!

Given the foregoing account, it is clear that mobile applications and add ons are severly limited to a miniscule percentage of “high end mobiles”. MMS, Email Surfing, Blackberry’s or Mobile Portals etc. That leaves out a vast majority of people who use mobiles mainly for voice applications. Or at times, log on to the SMS mania on the various TV channels. As a result, the Average Revenue Per User or ARPU drags down despite the fact that “high end” applications are pricey and afford a revenue stream in the absence of an alternative to the end user. That’s why the one uppance for 3G spectrum.

How would be the mobile applications like “mobile search” and “GPRS” or “3G” services be more relevant? Government of India’s plans to auction off 3G spectrum goes contrary to the assertions made here. For all, we’d be just subsiding the companies’s efforts to acquire spectrum. Which again is assinine to implement given the market realities are contrary to the telecom companies plans. Further, the mobile content development is still in it’s infancy; I can hardly think of 2/3 companies at present. Indeed, there is huge market for the same; but the current estimates are being hyped up. An average joe would settle in for a basic handset without the frills. This means that companies would have to spend huge amount of money in advertisements to create a demand; jacking up the prices unneccesarily.

Basically, there is no originality in the telecom market. Each one has “me-too” plans which means that no telecom operator can claim exclusivity.

Well, we don’t have much choice either isn’t it?

If we need proof enough about the growing market of GSM mobiles, you just have to check out the various “plans”. Each one seems to be tempting than the other; all kinds of charges thrown in; free this and free that; daily rentals; the billing cycles;monthly plans; monthly plan rentals; phew!

My travails started when my trusty Nokia handset went kaput. I believe, my dog had a role to play in it. Specially when he just revels in chewing it to bits. It outlived all the horrors subjected to it and one fine day it just went dead like a BSNL landline. After frantic efforts, I managed to get it powered on and retrieve my address book. That was when the whole issue came in focus.

For long, I have bet on CDMA; never faced any issue of congestion or call drops. It is one of the cheapest mode of communication while roaming. Thanks to Reliance’s widespread reach. Plus of course, rock bottom tariffs and simplistic plans. I was a satisfied customer. However, it was a BIG issue when the GSM phones started their marketing onslaught. Ring tones have been a BIG hit in recent times. Reliance favoured poorly. Then finding a Reliance customer was statistically insignificant. Almost everyone I knew has GSM phones. Another factor that weighed in prominently was the free SMS. For a nominal amount, I could go on a messaging binge. SMS definitely is expensive in Reliance.

I mustered up enough courage to explore the various possibilities. Airtel has a crappy office in my city; minimal attention to details and none of the “executives” seemed to be interested in spelling out plans. I gave it up in disgust. Hutch has excellent showromm ambience with pink splashed over. I have no idea as to why are they obessed with the pink tongued pug. However, I wasn’t happy with the way the plans were communicated. The person telling me didn’t have any clear idea as to help me to choose plans according to my needs. Hutch seems to have a lot of hidden charges; postpaid to prepaid migration is a pain in the wrong place. Hutch too ran out of contention.

Argubaly, BSNL has the cheapest GSM service. However, I am not a brave person; I decided not to explore the government service at all. There are enough stories doing the rounds that SMS’s move at snail’s pace. Clearly, BSNL is a company stepped back in time.

Finally, I settled in for Spice. Perhaps, it was the discounted “corporate” scheme which made calling within the group free of cost. Further, discounted calling rates to other mobiles and SMS pack. It comes with all the frills what the “rivals” are offering.

Still, the big hassle is multiplicity of plans. If the GSM operators need to be taken seriously, they ought to have policies in place to communicate effectively. Including trained personnel who have the ability to spell out everything clearly. I was absolutely aghast when the Airtel “executive” claimed that GPRS speeds touches 115kbps. Well, no point in arguing about the “ideal case scenario”. But then, they did palm off a sucker who wanted to invest in mobile wireless.

There are enough of them to keep the companies in business for a long time.

Recently, I decided to check out the different websites for mobile operators. Here’s my take.

Hutch: An oversized pink tongued Chinese pug awaits you here. The tarriff plans are confusing; it’s difficult to navigate the website and has minimal information on the usage patterns. Or any firm details as to your monthly outgo on various talk plans.

Airtel: Sunil Bharti’s baby. Has prominent links to various services. Including glorified “vision”. The link to various tarriff plans sits back neatly. However, it suffers from the same confusion as Hutch. Maybe, the multiplicity of the plans overwhelms and confuses the new user.

Reliance: Uses a lot of flash as the other websites making it very data intensive. For users still on dial up, this is stupidity. I couldn’t find any “low graphics” version for these three websites. Which is BIG minus. The details are neatly laid out; includinga nifty “handset introduction” feature. Uses a lot of flash here too. I have a BIG issue with this site because it doesnot render itself properly with Opera. Not web standards compliant?

Tata: I must congratulate them to make a neat web site here; some might say that it’s as staid as their telecom service. There are blinking links to their advertisement campaigns; obviously a flawed design concept. However, Tata’s score over others here. They have minimal talk plans and each plan is listed in detail. Easiest to follow and would load up quickly even on a BSNL dial up! The handset’s have link to a Java Script which lists the main features of the handsets.

Here Hutch majorly fails to mention the bundled offer of Motorola C115. Admittedly, it’s got weird looks but it’s been designed for functionality than pizzazz. In any case, it’s easier to get the phone’s software flashed to accept any other sim card. By default, it keeps the users locked in to Hutch network for 8 months.(As the local dealer claimed here in my home town).I have no means of confirming or refuting this as it wasn’t mentioned in their site.

Reliance, despite the huge flashy thingy, fails to mention the most important technical features of the handsets. Namely, the talk time and standby time for the battery. If this is deliberate overlook, it’s in excusable. I randomly checked three different handsets and all 3 failed to mention these parameters.

Airtel, Hutch and Reliance fail to mention clearly about their talk plans. This despite TRAI’s order (the toothless regulator), which made it mandatory to introduce software selection so that people could use the same to select the plan of their choice. Evidently, the websites don’t get updated regularly. Airtel introduced lifetime warranty calling card of Rs 999. This wasn’t mentioned on their website when the last time I checked (25th Dec.). Ditto for Hutch. SHAME!

It’s a clear reflection of the ineptitude. Perhaps they could hire better web masters too. Or update it frequently too.

Curiously, data plans for GPRS in Hutch was mentioned for “corporates”. Well, no home users? Or would a prospective customer be put off with the mention on their website? They should surely look in this aspect.

Finally, only Reliance links prominently to their email. Airtel has a web form that needs to be filled up. I couldn’t find anything for Tata’s or Hutch. Well, you can draw your own coclusions.