Kaun banega cellular No.1 in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: As a young cellular operator in Gujarat, AirTel had the disadvantage of poaching the existing customer base. But thankfully, Gujarat — considered to be the most lucrative after the metro circles — had space to have yet another one, BSNL’s CellOne.

So with four operators, where would the potential cellular buyer approach? This question had a straight answer. Go to the largest subscriber base since they have the largest network. But the freebies and the promotional campaign launched by the two latest entrants had the customers making headway for these operators.

Bharti Teleservices promoted AirTel, which launched its services in the state this August, has already captured a market share of more than seven percent. This roughly translates into 46,000 out of a total 6,60,000 subscribers. Leading the arena is Hutchison promoted Celforce with a share of 59 percent followed by Idea at 34 percent.

Price cuts have become stagnant and gradually all the incentives and freebies announced in the last quarter have made an easy exit. Many customers are still unaware of the withdrawal of the freebies. The companies used a small asterisk above the freebies to have a small font warning that the freebies are only for three months. No one noticed and hence they continue with all the freebies that were offered to counter the arrival of the competitors.

On the contrary, the tariffs are likely to go up in the near future. But with the soon to be launched Wireless in Local Loop (WiLL) services by Reliance and Tata Teleservices, the cellular operators would find it difficult to raise the tariffs. The Cellular Operators Association of India has already launched its protest on the discriminatory pricing policies between cellular companies and fixed line and WiLL companies. But everyone agrees that GSM prices can’t go below the current level.

Some of them even feel that at this rate, hardly any company is going to break even in the next ten years. But one of the facilities that everyone applauded is the innovative Local Direct Dialing (LDD) from AirTel. This service connects calls locally to any roamer in the state and the caller need not pay the long distance tariffs. Prabhat Pani, CEO of AirTel in Gujarat said that this results in a direct saving of more than 70 percent.

AirTel, in its expansion plan, is pumping in more than Rs 400 crore in the next three years to make its presence felt all across the state. BSNL would follow suit. The customers can now laugh all the way to their billing as the operators fight for their survival.