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April 17, 2001
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Money > Business Headlines > Report April 17, 2001 |
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Can MTNL ring in new pre-paid era?NetScribes/Sunil Joshi The next round of the much-talked-about cellular war in Bombay is set to take place in the pre-paid segment. And all eyes are now on MTNL, who, with the launch of its Dolphin cellular service, recently triggered a frenzied tariff cut of almost 50 per cent by rivals BPL Mobile and Orange. This time, though, competition has its strategy neatly charted out. BPL Mobile and Orange have already thrown the gauntlet at MTNL by aggressively marketing their respective pre-paid cards - MOTS and Just-Talk. Although the companies refuse to admit it, what they are actually doing this -- highlight Dolphin's obvious inability to match them. Dolphin's pre-paid service has yet to be launched. Apparently so as it is still working out a tariff structure. Industry sources, however, point to more basic problems related to technology. Given these delays and details, can MTNL take up the challenge? "We will be launching the service in a month or two. We hope to launch it with our roaming service, another value-added feature," an MTNL spokesperson told NetScribes. However, going by industry statistics, Dolphin will have to do it sooner than later. Already, almost 50 per cent of BPL Mobile and Orange subscribers are pre-paid users - a figure that could go up to 60 per cent over the next two months. After the two operators recently revised their pre-paid card tariffs in line with the cut in regular tariffs, more and more subscribers are opting for these pre-paid services. "We have witnessed a 25 per cent increase for the pre-paid usage over the past two months," said a BPL Mobile spokesperson. Just-Talk and MOTS are both being offered in the city at a flat rate of Rs 3 per minute, which means that MTNL will have to position its pre-paid card attractively. It also has to match its rivals' list of value-added services, including mobile Internet, free incoming SMS calls, score calls, 24-hour, toll-free, customer care numbers and the like. Pre-paid cards have a great deal going for them -- no rentals, no additional overheads and competitive tariff structures. Which is why most subscribers prefer to use the service. The launch of such a service by MTNL will add to the drama in this segment. The question is -- can the Dolphin leap to this occasion? |
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