Most feel plans on offer are too expensive, prefer waiting for better deals
Third generation or 3G services by private telecom players Tata Docomo and Reliance Communications do not seem to be striking a chord with users. This, despite both telcos loading their 3G services with a generous dose of free calls and short messages service (SMSes).
Sathish Manivannan, an IT professional from Bangalore had hoped to activate video-conference facilities with his 3G-enabled mobile phone, to spend less time in office. However, the Airtel user is sceptical and prefers to wait-and-watch before opting for 3G connectivity.
“These bundled offers are very confusing. I thought I would spend an additional Rs 1,000 on 3G service. The offer that suits my budget gives 1,200 minutes free calls, but with only 1 GB data download. My download requirement is more. Besides, I feel these are teasers rates and it might increase.”
Sahil Chopra, an MBA student from Mumbai, too seems to be in a similar situation. He loves watching movies on the move and pays a monthly bill of Rs 2,000 because of frequent Internet surfing. He had switched to unlimited Internet plans on 2G, and was hoping to have similar offers on 3G, but finds the offers too expensive.
Reliance Communications, which recently launched 3G services in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chandigarh, offers 10 paisa per 10 kb download upto 50 MB and beyond that one paisa per 10 kb — state-owned MTNL has a similar offer.
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If Chopra continues to pursue his interests – videos on YouTube, song and movie downloads – he would need around 4 GB and pay around Rs 5,000-5,500 per month. Even if he subscribes to MTNL he would have to pay around Rs 4,000 per month.
RCom is offering free 6,000 minutes voice calls and 6,000 SMSes with their 5 GB, 3G download plan at Rs 2,999 for post-paid users . “But what would I do with 6,000 SMSes? I hardly sent 500 SMSes a month,” said Chopra. He plans to wait for Vodafone and Airtel to launch their services, before taking a decision.
Alok Shende, co-founder of Ascentius Consulting and an IT & telecom expert, said the packages need to be more attractive for people to opt for them.
RCom and Tata offers Rs 500 pack. While Tata offers 750 free minutes of voice calls, RCom offers 1,200 minutes. If we consider 40 paise per minute for a voice call – the prevailing tariff – RCom’s data works out to be Re 1 per MB against 80 paise per MB by Tata Docomo.
Experts said in bundled offerings, voice calls and SMSes come cheap as incentives but 3G data itself comes at a premium. They said various price points are touched upon by the present offers, forcing consumers to go for higher value packs, thereby maximising revenue potential of 3G offerings.
RCom offers plans with data download of 50 MB, 100 MB, 200 MB, 500 MB, and 5 GB. It does not have plans between 1 GB and 4 GB. Tata Docomo offers plans for 250 MB, 500 MB, 1 GB and 2 GB. MTNL on the other hand, has a wide range of 3G data offers ranging from 60 MB to 100 GB. (See table)
Apart from bundled offers, telcos are offering applications that they felt would become popular. MTNL and BSNL offers video calls, while RCom chose mobile TV as the popular aps.
Reliance offers six packs with 15 channels each of news, kids and fun at Rs 25 per day, Rs 75 per week and Rs 150 per month.
MTNL charges 60 paise per video call in the same network and 90 paise per minute for video calls to other networks and STD. International video calls are Rs 30 per minute. BSNL too had promotional free video call offers. “Neither video calling nor mobile TV have been a great success. It is a big leap of faith to believe that there would be a lot of TV viewing on a 3.5 inch screen,” said Shende.
No wonder most users Business Standard spoke to were not opting for the 3G plans on offer. “The best one is the Rs 1,500 plan with extra data download at night by MTNL. But, I guess a lot more plans are yet to come and they could be more attractive,” said Sourav Chakraborty, a marketing professional.
Experts said it is still a seller’s market with only three players for each circle. Telcos are not yet ready to offer 3G services at non-premium rates.
Industry insiders said it would take a while before 3G services are offered at affordable rates because of the high spectrum price operators had to pay. Companies like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Tata Teleservices, Reliance, Idea Cellular and Aircel among others paid a whopping Rs 67,719 crore for 3G licences.