MTNL Looking For 3G Subscribers – Launches 3G On Prepaid

It has been around six months when MTNL(Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd) launched 3G services in NCR region but amazingly it has only 400 customers till date and it seems that MTNL dreams about the success of 3G services are also shattering in the same way as of BSNL.

MTNL seems to be pulling out every trick from its kitty to increase number of 3g service users. MTNL has announced that it will launch 3G services on prepaid connections that will enable customers use the 3G services like video telephony ,high speed data connectivity from their mobile phones. According to Mr R. S. P. Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director, MTNL, “We expect the subscriber numbers to pick up now, since most of the Indian subscribers are pre-paid subscribers and there is need for high speed data services. So I expect the subscriber base to grow multi-fold after this launch.”. Since around 95% of MTNL subscribers are prepaid users  MTNL is expecting to add 2-3 lakhs subscribers in the first year itself but these figures seems too exaggerated seeing that there are only 400 subscribers in the first six months of operation.

The service is available for Rs 300 with lifetime validity but users need to purchase various data coupons from Rs 99 to 2500 based on their usage and need.

Why MTNL and BSNL are failing again and again:

3G is the most talked about service in most of the countries and many surveys have been conducted which shows that people are looking ahead using this service and want to enjoy the benefits of 3G services so what is really going wrong with BSNL & MTNL who have the largest number of mobile subscribers and still cannot get handful of subscribers for this service.

1. Bad Timing: Is the reason timing? Have MTNL, BSNL launched the service ahead of time. People are looking for some innovative services but in reality there seems dearth of  good applications requiring high speed 3G connectivity. There are very less number of users using applications like video conferencing, mobile gaming etc which need high speed 3G connectivity.
2. Inadequate Pricing: 3G services are mostly useful in high speed applications like video calling and these services transfers lot of data. A user using video calling can easily transfer 100Mb for a call that lasts less than an hour. So even a normal user that want to truly enjoy 3G services will have to get the highest package of MTNL of 2500 per month and ever after that he has to pay Rs 1.8 per minute for a video call.  It is making no sense in subscribing to such a service as user have to pay for consuming the bandwidth as well as using the service.   Users can enjoy the same features by having a broadband at home/office and having a WIFI phone using the broadband,enjoying unlimited video calling for less than Rs 700 per month. One can see how users reacted when WATblog announced the launch of 3G services by MTNL and it seems that user input is showing as number of subscribers MTNL has.
3. Wrong Target Subscriber Base: Is there a problem with BSNL, MTNL identifying the target subscriber base. Undoubtedly BSNL and MTNL are largest mobile operators but most of their subscriber base are low end users having ARPU less tan RS 200. Should they try to target cooperates to give a push to the service.

There are numerous reasons that can attribute to the failure of 3G services but the core fact is that much sought after services like 3G are not picking up in India and the ARPU is decreasing every day.  We will have to wait and watch how the private players like Airtel and Reliance market 3G when they launch it and how it impacts the uptake of the service.