Diwali Bonanza for Mobile Users: RCOM

Posted by Tushar Mathur on 10/06/09 • Categorized as Business ( 1 views )

Well, it’s a celebration time this Diwali, for all cell phone users. The latest in the war on tariff is that, Rcom has reduced its tariff rates to 50 paisa per minute, irrespective of the network services, with immediate effect. This comes after Tata Teleservices introduced pay per second plan, ‘Tata DoCoMo’ in Jun 2009. Last month, Bharti Airtel introduced uniform call charges at 50 paisa/ minute for local and STD calls.

To join the bandwagon, 50 Paisa/ minute plan offered by Reliance is applicable to all the networks, be it CDMA or GSM. As an added bonanza, these call rates are applicable to billing customers, prepaid users and roaming calls.

 

This offer will be welcomed by all the existing Reliance customers, as it will result in huge savings. Reliance Communications may benefit, as the users will now make STD calls through cell phones, instead of using prepaid calling cards. The company may also benefit as first time customers may opt for Reliance. However, it seems unlikely that the users of other network services may switch over to Reliance. There are several reasons for this, let us have a look at each one of them:

  • As we have seen, Reliance Communications have reduced the tariff in retaliation to Tata Teleservices and Bharti Airtel. It is quite likely that other service providers may follow suit and reduce the tariffs.
  • It is inconvenient to change networks, as your cell number changes with the change in service provider.

 

The true picture will be seen after Dec’31, 2009, when change in the network will not result in change in the cell number.

 

This far, Reliance has been aggressively using marketing techniques to market its products such as caller tunes, and various messaging services etc. A Reliance subscriber receives at least 10 SMS per day advertising several products. The company policy regarding unsubscribing from SMS services takes a whopping 45 days. If the company wants to retain its customer base after 31 Dec 2009, it needs to adopt user friendly policies, in addition to tariff cuts.

 

Let us hope that the customers have the last laugh, in this war on tariffs.

 

 

 


 



About Tushar Mathur

Tushar’s main goal is to spot good news-worthy info and get it out to the public as soon as possible. He has been writing about Personal Finance and Investing in India for the last 3 years. You can reach him at: tushar@allindiatoday.com



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