RCom To Offer Mobile TV & Sachet Based Payment For VAS
Reliance Communications is on a roll when it comes to VAS and VAS related initiatives. They have recently announced their intention to launch mobile Tv offerings for their newly launched GSM Network. RCom is reportedly in advanced stages of discussions for an alliance with Apalya Technologies to offer mobile television (MobiTV) on its network.
RCOM already offers Mobile TV services on its CDMA network and with this tie up it will be able to offer the same on its gsm network as well. RCOM will be using apalya’s proprietary platform Mimobi to enable Mobile TV services.
“In order to offer the Mobile TV application on its GSM network and to increase the number of handsets that can support the Mobile TV application, we are tying up with Apalya to enhance the width of usage”, said Krishna Durbha, Head – VAS, Reliance Communications.
While on one hand RCom is busy tying up for offering VAS on the other hand its planning to launch unique payment mechanism to drive the uptake of VAS in the Indian market. Economic Times reports the introduction of Sachet payment for VAS on RCom. It reports that the company is moving away from the monthly consolidated subscription pricing module to a more shredded subscription module and is introducing a host of sachet pricing plans.
The sachet pricing plans basically give the option for users to try services on a time based measure. For example, if you want to use CRBTs currently everyone needs to subscribe for a month at around 30 40 Rupees. Now Sachet pricing will let you buy this for a day at price of Re. 1 instead of the monthly subscription. The move is targeted towards the the 85% pre paid subscribers of Rcom’s users.
Both these news suggest an aggressive foray into VAS by RCom, and perhaps will push a similar approach by other players in the market. Especially with number portability looming and the staggerring growth mobile subscription sees every month, such flexible solutions will become a prime mover for many carriers. RCom being amongst the few players to offer both GSM and CDMA can stand to gain from both sides with these innovative efforts.
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