The advertisement says ‘Offer valid till stock lasts’ but how much is the stock left when this scheme is pretty much valid since June? Anyways, overlooking the marketing ploys here, if you’re in search for a new number then MTNL is giving away a prepaid number for free to its existing MTNL Landline/Trump/Garuda/Dolphin users. Customers will get a Trump SIM card with a 30 day validity and Rs. 20 worth of talk time.
Archives for October 2008
Vodafone Bonus Cards (Delhi NCR)
We’ve already seen the Vodafone Bonus Cards for Mumbai circle. Now let’s check out the same for Delhi/NCR. The main purpose of Bonus Cards is to reduce your calling or SMS charges for a fixed monthly amount. Here are the details:
- Bonus Card 29: Gets you all local and National SMS @ 29 p /SMS
- Bonus Card 31: Make all Local & STD calls @ Re 1 / min
- Bonus Card 35: Gets you 300 local SMS’s
- Bonus Card 149: Call 1000 Local Vodafone minutes for free.
- Bonus Card 50: Make all Local calls at a flat rate of @ 50p / min
- Bonus Card 110: Make Local calls @ 50p / min & STD calls @ Re 1 / min
- Bonus Card 124: Make Local Vodafone calls @ 10p / min & Local Mobile calls @ 50p / min.
All the above cards have a validity of a month. We would recommend people to consider their needs before they buy such cards. These cards are designed to suit different purposes. Depending upon your usage choose your best bet.
Cheap Chinese phones may soon be banned
If you are considering buying a cheap Chinese phone, well it is advisable to reconsider your plan. Department of Telecom (DoT) is planning to block cell phones which do not bear the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. (Cheap Chinese phones do not have an IMEI number)
There are approximately 1.5 crore China-made and locally-assembled handsets in use that don’t have IMEI numbers. Even mobile phones that have all zeroes or no zero in their IMEI code will be barred. DoT decided to make this move after security agencies found that the mobile phones used by terrorists in the recent blasts did not have IMEI numbers.
Sales of Chinese handsets constitute about 13 per cent (or Rs 4,000 crore) of the Rs 30,000-crore annual mobile handset market in the country. IMEI numbers can be checked by dialing “*#06#” in any keypad.
RCom rolls out some more Jaadu
We saw Tata Teleservices franchise Virgin Mobile revising its local and STD calling rates this week. Now its time for RCom to do so. RCom on Wednesday added a new recharge pack to their Jaadu basket. This pack is meant to lower outgoing call rates for prepaid subscribers who are looking for a lifetime commitment with Reliance Mobile. This plan is called the ‘Lifetime Jaadu Pack’ and offers:
- Local calls to any phone – 50p/min
- STD calls to any phone – Re 1/min
- Pack price – Rs 550
This pack is a boon for subscribers with lifetime validity as they can now just subscribe once to this pack and enjoy the lowered calling rates for lifetime as compared to buying packs and special tariff vouchers every month for making affordable outgoing calls.
Vodafone launches ‘Vodafone Tuesday’ scheme in Delhi, NCR
‘Vodafone Tuesday’ is a scheme which allows a Vodafone subscriber to bag two movie tickets and meals at a price of one. Vodafone Mumbai subscribers are using this scheme since long and now it is even being made available to Delhi/NCR subscribers.
This scheme restricted to Tuesdays, will allow Vodafone users in Delhi/NCR to catch movies at all outlets of Satyam (Nehru Place, Patel Nagar and Janak Puri) and DT Cinemas (Gurgaon), and dine at restaurants like Bercos, Tantra, The Rock Café, Little Italy, and many more.
Virgin Mobile slashed STD, local call rates
Taking the GSM competition head-on, Tata Teleservices brand franchise Virgin Mobile, reduced its STD and local call rates to 50p/min. The catch here is that this call rate can only be enjoyed after a user is done with his/her initial three minutes of local and STD calls which would cost Rs 1.50/min and Re 1/min respectively.
Virgin Mobile, which is a youth centric telecom service, has made an excellent move by slashing the STD charges. According to a recent industry research, STD calls comprises of around 25% of the total bill amount of an urban young subscriber. So this offer will definitely meet the behavioral needs of youth customers by providing a value proposition on long distance calling.
ZTE is the official partner for Aircel’s expansion plan
China based Telecom infrastructure gear manufacturer and wireless solution provider ZTE has officially got hold of a $400 million contract from Aircel for expanding the latter’s GSM coverage in India. There were rumors earlier this week that Aircel, which is 74% owned by Malaysian based Maxis is considering a tie up with African telecom giant MTN.
As for ZTE, they consider India as the biggest telecom market after China. Along with this joint venture, they are also planning to launch their own handset brand by this year-end and are targeting 20% of their global handset sales form India.
MTN plans to enter India
MTN, Africa’s largest telecom player, which was the acquisition target for both Bharti Airtel and RCom earlier this year is all set to challenge these Indian telecom biggies in their own backyard.
MTN is looking to enter India by partnering a full-fledged existing operator, though there is no fixed time for its entry. (If rumors are to be believed MTN plans partnering with Aircel) As for MTN, it offers services in 21 countries across Africa and Asia and is amongst the world’s top 10 telecom companies.
Aircel provides Lifetime Validity at Rs.97
Lifetime recharges are becoming popular among the operators as it gives them an opportunity to gain a minimum amount from them and also retain them to some extent. Aircel is providing the lifetime options to its existing users at Rs.97.
The ERC97 pack is what would provide them with lifetime validity. For those who are new to the service provider can opt for the lifetime validity plan by paying Rs.199 and getting the same benefits. However the cheap price does not get you much as calls and SMS’s (Local) are quite unattractive at Re.1 and STD calls at Rs.1.5
This could be sorted by opting for one of the many packs being offered by the oprtaor to reduce the calling and SMS rates. Basically the plan tries to get consumers in with a cheap price tag and then make them spend more by helping them cut costs. The plan is available in the Tamil Nadu and Chennai.
Study suggest users are happy with their service providers
Mobile number portability (MNP) when implemented will prove a boon to users who want to change the service provider without losing their number. However, a study conducted by a research firm Strategy Analytics has something different to say which vaguely forecasts MNP a complete dud in India.
Their survey results claim that almost 90 percent of subscribers prefer to stay with their current provider and are content with their services.
In the last 12 months 81 per cent of the users have not changed their operators and 89 per cent of the users are not going to switch between operators in the next 12 months.
We Say: This is a positive statistic as far as service providers are concerned. But we doubt the percentage to remain constant at this level after MNP is introduced. Maybe the subscribers are actually waiting for MNP to come into effect before taking the plunge. Or the operators are tightening their belts to offer good service so that their subscriber base doesn’t deflate. Nonetheless, it is we, the consumers are benefitting from this. Aren’t we?