MobiGyaan

When the entire world got rolled under recession last year, India gave surprises to others with a strong domestic back up. The main relief for advertising agencies (atleast for those who have a telecom account) is that they are guaranteed with a continuous business! India, as the whole world knows, is the gold mine for telecom companies. No one dares to ignore a market that generates 10 million new subscribers every month!

On the other side the evolution of new media and changing media habits of consumers has made it very tough for telecom brands to make the user see value in their offering. Though every telecom brand spends anywhere between Rs. 150 crore and Rs. 400 crore there are lots of buzz about the telecom brands, new offers, promotions etc. But only very few telecom brands made smart investment in new media to make the most out of it!

Without any doubt Tata DoCoMo is the clear winner. It’s a great job done by both the marketing team and their ad agency Interface.co.in. TATA DoCoMo turned the market upside down with per second billing, great brand tone, clever ads, (don’t forget that NTT DoCoMo is a pioneer in advanced technology). But what made the real differentiation is their involvement in social media like Twitter, Facebook, Orkut etc. They did marketing WITH the consumers and not TO them. They involved users to participate in the brand building and executed one of the smartest crowdsourcing campaign ever done in India. They used both twitter and facebook in a smart way with innovative ideas like ‘dietalk’, ‘animation contest’ etc.

How can I miss ZooZoos! Personally zoozoos is one of the finest creative product ever produced in Indian advertising! The way the zoo zoos occupied the life of customers is tremendous. Every one loves zoozoos. Every one on facebook has experienced the best of brand engagement by any Indian brands. Ideas like “See the ad first on facebook”, “Contests” has made inroads in consumers minds. I won a zoozoo t-shirt too ad I was extremely proud to spread the news. This is what the new age marketing all about. If the content is great, consumers will become a media and take care of the marketing for the brand!

Idea has executed few of innovative marketing for ‘use mobile save paper’ campaign by partnering with barista/CCD an delivering the menu to users mobile! This campaign was very well thought and aligned with the brand thought. But idea is a brand that should take full use of social media and not just stick to the online banners! Idea should INVOLVE users with the brand since they have a powerful brad DNA that can open more possibilities when they embrace new media.

Airtel, is always a trusted brand by millions. In fact I strongly believe that they don’t even want to create campaigns on new media. They have a better network, great service etc. I suggest Airtel to take their customer service to forums like Twitter/Facebook etc, which will logically reduce their cost and increase the trust the consumers have in Airtel

Aircel did some great initiative with ‘save the tigers’ campaign. But they just informed us about the numbers and wanted to join facebook groups. They never tried to provide us some directions on what has to be done and what role should a normal Indian play to save the tigers! But they got great brand recall with the initiative. I’m sure that folks in Aircel and Dentsu, their creative agency will come up a great follow up campaign that will spice up the new media.

With regard to other telecom brands, I’m very disappointed with their new media initiatives. In fact I had huge expectations from Uninor which has over Rs. 400 crore to spend, to make smart investments in new media rather than just a online banners.

Every thing said and done, I believe 2010 will provide these telecom brands to re-invent their marketing, media planning strategy.

Who are the winners?

Without doubt Tata DoCoMo and Vodafone are the winners when it comes to best usage of the new media. Other brands still have opportunities to make really interesting connect with the consumers. After all, consumers haven’t changed, but the way they consume media has!

Indian telecom companies were excited with the announcement of 3G auctions for high-speed mobile service. But now with the delay in auction for four times in a row, mobile operators are uncertain about the start of 3G services in the world’s largest wireless market by users after China.

The Indian government still expects to accumulate a total of USD 5.5 billion for four national and 22 regional licences, despite a weak growth in profit and falling stock prices due to a price war that has driven calling rates to well under 1 cent per minute. Carriers will need cash to bid on spectrum, and building a nationwide network will cost each as much as $4 billion. So far, the start of 3G has not been fruitful. State-owned operator BSNL, which the government allowed to launch 3G a year ago, currently offers service in 300 cities, has cut tariffs at least twice, and has just 700,000 customers. The company’s record doesn't seem to encourage competitors.

The auctions may lead to consolidation and greater overseas control of India's mobile business. The top three operators hold just over half the market, while a number of smaller players pmgtle for the rest and foreigners are keen to enter this market. Japan's DoCoMo offered $2.7 billion for 26% of telecommunication operator Tata Teleservices, and Russia's MTS purchased 74% of Shyam TeleServices in 2008. Norway's Telenor looked to buy another small player in 2009.

Most Indians look satisfied to use phones for just voice calls and SMS. Only 40,000 or so iPhone’s are being used in the country, and smartphones make up well under 5% of the handset market. Mumbaikars using handsets with built-in FM radio seem very contended for listening to music on the go and wonder how would internet enhance their mobile features. With few Indians using mobile Internet, carriers are suspicious over spending billions on network gear and licences.

Do you think that the launch of 3G services will give a major push to the telecommunication industry? Do post your comment if you are already using phones with access to 3G.

1. Speed : I have read in many forums where people complain about Aircel GPRS speed but let me also tell you that I have read similar views about TATA DOCOMO also. One of our team members, Mihir, who himself uses Aircel GPRS said me that Aircel is good enough he easily streams youtube videos with it however sometimes he faces speed problems but he do not mind it as it happens rarely and apart from that its always fun to use unlimited GPRS. Mihir has also used GPRS of TATA DOCOMO and said that speed is good with TATA DOCOMO.
2. Usage : Some of you might use GPRS for just surfing the wap-sites and some you might use it for downloading and surfing both. TATA DOCOMO GPRS packs are good for surfers who download very less or nothing during day time. However four GPRS Packs of TATA DOCOMO  - Rs. 15, Rs. 33, Rs. 48 and Rs. 95 provide download of 500 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB and 4 GB respectively between 11 PM to 7 AM. Aircel on the other hand provides unlimited usage so the size of your downloads and surfing hardly matters.

India stands in the second position in maximum usage of mobile phone, with 550 million consumers streaming in the country. The teledensity in the country is growing at a fast rate with 97% of the urban population lifeline is with the mobile phone, whereas only 18% of rural population is accessible. With the rise of wireless phones, the wire line sector is facing a drop, and is left with 37.5 million consumers.  

After the success of 2G technology, the 3G in India is a big boon, not only in this particular telecom sector but also in the overall economy. To further add experience to mobile services, WiMAX services are coming up with mobile broadband service not only for mobile users in the urban areas, but it has features to uplift the rural sector.  

Before I share what WiMAX can do for us, here is a brief description of WiMAX : WiMAX mean Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless transmission of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile internet access. The technology provides up to 10 Mbit/s broadband speed without the need for cables. The technology is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard (also called Broadband Wireless Access). The name "WiMAX" was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformity and interoperability of the standard. The forum describes WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL".

The bandwidth and range of WiMAX make it suitable for the following potential applications:

• Connecting Wi-Fi hotspots to the Internet.
• Providing a wireless alternative to cable and DSL for "last mile" broadband access.
• Providing data and telecommunications services.
• Providing a source of Internet connectivity as part of a business continuity plan. That is, if a business has both a fixed and a wireless Internet connection, especially from unrelated providers, they are unlikely to be affected by the same service outage.
• Providing portable connectivity.

Do you want to buy a new mobile operator and/or change your existing mobile operator, but confused as these days almost every Telecom Operator is offering its Mobile subscriber "Pay Per Second" pulse.

When TATA DOCOMO started it Mobile Services by offering "Pay Per Second" Plan the entire Telecom Industry was in Wait & Watch mood. It became inevitable for other Telecom Operators to reduce their call charges and introduce Per Second Pulse when they saw that TATA Teleservices Ltd achieved the highest number of subscribers in month in August and September.

So, the story so far is that all telecom operators are now offering Per Second Pulse to their subscribers. Now the point I want to stress is that now as almost every telecom operator in India is providing almost same tariffs, how should you choose between the telecom operators, which one use?

According to me their are various aspects based on which you can judge an telecom operator. I am mentioning them in the order of my preference (Do tell me if you look for any other aspect which is not mentioned by me)

• Network Coverage
• Network Quality
• Tariff
• Additional Benefit Packs (Free SMSes etc.)
• Customer Care
• VAS

Airtel has recently launched Pay Per Second call rates. The reason being - All the major Telecom Operators like BSNL, Aircel, Vodafone etc have started offering their consumers Pay Per Second Call rates.

Telecom Industry in India was very competitive from last few years, it still is. But after the entrance of the new operator TATA DOCOMO, a kind a stir is created in Industry. TATA DOCOMO, the GSM brand of TATA Teleservices Ltd has revolutionized the Indian Telecom Industry by offering call rates as low as 1paise/second.

As I mentioned earlier that most of the major operators (Reliance is exception in this case - It launched Simply Reliance Plan) are now offering Pay Per Second Plans but most of the operators require their customers to make yearly or monthly recharges to enjoy the benefits of Per Second Pulse. However, TATA DOCOMO subscribers do not require any such yearly or monthly recharges to enjoy Per Second Pulse rates.

Comparison Between TATA DOCOMO's Pay Per Second Plan and Airtel's Freedom Plan :

TATA DOCOMO is offering Per Second Pulse as default tariff with lifetime validity to its subscribers. All local calls can be made with TATA DOOCMO at 1paisa/second. TATA DOCOMO is also offering STD calls at 1 paisa/second, however 2 paise/second will be charged after first 27,000 seconds of STD calls, in some circles 2 paisa/second is charged after first 15 minutes of STD calls.

Airtel is offering Per Second Pulse with the recharge of Rs. 64 - 94 (varies from circle to circle) with 1 year validty to existing customers, and new customers can avail Airtel Freedom plan at a cost of Rs. 66 - 99 (varies from circle to circle) for 1 year.

What made TATA DOCOMO Pay Per Second Plan better than Airtel?

• TATA DOCOMO Pay Per Second Plans are available for both Prepaid and Postpaid subscribers. However, Airtel’s Pay Per Second Plan is only available for its Prepaid users. Thus a major drawback is the absence of per second billing for Airtel postpaid customers
• TATA DOCOMO customers can enjoy Pay Per Second Tariff for life without any additional charge. Airtel Pay Per Second Plan comes with 1 year validity, so after one year a Airtel customer will have to pay some charges (right now its between 64 - 94) to continue with his Pay Per Second Plan.
• Airtel has decided to charge different rates for different networks. 1paisa/second is only for Airtel to Airtel calls. The rate for non Airtel calls is 1.2p/sec. Mathematically that makes it 20% more expensive than Tata Docomo which offers 1p/sec for all.