We are set to witness another tariff war after the 1 paisa/sec billing that Tata Docomo brought about roughing up quite a few established telecom operator feathers, Videocon has drawn first blood in the international calling rates. Arvind Santhanam, Chief Operating Officer of Videocon Telecommunications, unveiled the brand’s new 1 paisa/sec calling voucher for international calls to the United States and Canada which costs Rs 57 (30 days validity). Additionally, a Rs 22 voucher with Rs 1.69/minute rate for calls to Singapore and Malaysia and 99 paise/minute to the US and Canada was also announced. This was done at a press conference yesterday. The new rates are available to subscribers of their prepaid service.
It is open to debate whether this move is innovative enough to latch onto large subscriber bases even if it is the first of many plans that Videocon might have. According to data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Videocon added 1.39 million users in May which fell, shockingly, to 33% of that in June! In a market where there are almost 15 operators shoving each other to grab a bite of the pie, this might not be enough to tempt users to go out and get a Videocon connection.
The top 6 players viz. Bharti Airtel, BSNL, Vodafone Essar, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Tata Communications are established brands accounting for almost the entire market share and significant churn (number of users who discontinue their subscription to a service) can only be generated if Videocon can leverage their brand value and top it up with a series of spaced out plans which have a mass appeal. It might, otherwise, end up being remembered as another operator that tried to fish in some seriously stormy waters and did not realize when the storm took their boat.
Considering the number of Indian students that travel abroad, especially to the US, for higher education, such a plan might prove great for their family to get in touch with them. What do you think?
there are so many indians businessman in africa, they should try to reduce their rates for africa too.