Vodafone is trying hard to sell the new BlackBerry Storm, the next best thing after the iPhone. It is currently priced at Rs.27,990 and might turn out to be quite expensive, which is why the operator now gives prospective buyers an EMI option. Some of the options are:

• 6 months: Rs. 4,665 – 4,913
• 12 months: Rs. 2,333  - 2,566

The EMI is different as it is currently being offered by 4 banks viz. Axis, Barclays, Citibank and HSBC. For more specifics and break-up of the EMI’s, just click here. 

With 2008 not being the best year for the iPhone in India, Vodafone is attempting to cover up the disaster by offering discounts on the same. The offer, launched in the first week of January, makes the iPhone cheaper by Rs.5,000.However, this isn’t a direct discount. Vodafone will allow you a credit of Rs.500 on your bill for the first 10months.

Given the high charges for data usage,Vodafone will make sure that you are being billed in four-digits, just clearing the doubts of people who thought their bills would barely come close to Rs.500.

We Say: The offer is a smart way of attracting consumers and though the phone turns out to be expensive in the log term from the users perspective, the discount being offered may be very lucrative to be avoided or ignored. Let’s hope the act gets some additional users to buy the phone.

Following Airtel’s approach to lower its lifetime prepaid start-up amount, Vodafone last week announced its lifetime prepaid at Rs 99. Everything is similar to Airtel’s prepaid pack; the Vodafone card carries a talktime of Rs 10 and offers local calling at a flat rate of Re 1.

If there is one thing that can gauge the performance of the operators’ service in the Telecom industry, it’s TRAI’s service survey. This survey is undertaken to understand operator performance on parameters like pre-sales and sales, network availability, value-added service (VAS), customer care and billing . The final score is a percentage with 90% being the cut-off set by the governing body. Here are how the results looked like: Continue Reading…

The economic slowdown hasn’t affected the Indian telecom industry much, quite evident by the above mentioned numbers. Against 7.62 million users being added in November, December witnessed a healthy growth in these numbers – with 8.12 million users being added. This converts into a growth rate of 3.25%, which is marginally lower than the same clocked in the previous month – 3.32%. Here are the specifics of how each operator contributed to this growth:

• Airtel: 2.7 million
• Vodafone: 2 million
• Idea: 1 million
• BPL Mobile: 65 thousand
• BSNL:8 lakh

At the end of December, the strength of the total user base (GSM) stands at 258 million, with Bharti Airtel leading the market with its 33.22% market share. The operator is followed by Vodafone at 23.63% share of the GSM market. The month saw all operators clocking positive growth, with the exception of BPL which saw its additions go into the red.

With competition heating up and users having better alternatives to switch over to, Vodafone has launched some very effective plans. Here is one for those who have their fingers busy all the time:

• Cost: Rs.35/month
• All local SMS @ 10paise
• 350 local SMS free- Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa
• SMS: ACT SMS10 to 111 to subscribe

We Say:The plan makes sense and will see many takers as it provides SMS at the lowest possible rates. Although this may not be equally good when compared to similar CDMA plans, it would give Vodafone users some reason to rejoice.

Vodafone has launched its new plan, available to both prepaid and postpaid users, called Vodafone Friends Circle. The much publicised plan allows users to add other Vodafone numbers to their friends list and make local calls to them @ 20paise/min.

However, the ad says that you can add as many friends as you like to this friend list, which does not hold true in reality. The maximum number of friends you can add is limited to 10 for prepaid users. You can change these at your own convenience, but this will cost you Rs.5 for each change. The plan is charged @ 50paise per day.

As for the postpaid users, this might turn out to be quite expensive as the number of Vodafone users that you can add to your list is 5, and each comes at the price of Rs.15/month.

We say: The plan may provide good value for moneyfor a prepaid user, but will also benefit a postpaid user who has majority calling to particular Vodafone number. Also the fact that the plan provides the flexibility to add one or more friends (postpaid) gives it that extra benefit.

November witnessed 7.62 million new subscribers getting on to the GSM bandwagon. The addition though enormous, falls short of last months figure of 7.67 million. This has taken the GSM subscriber base from 241 million to 249 million, thus clocking a healthy 3.32% increase. Here’s how the players contributed to the final figure:

• Airtel: 2.72 million
• Vodafone Essar: 2.06 million
• Idea Cellular: 1.2 million
• Spice Communications: 68,765
• BSNL: 0.67 million

From the geographic perspective, J&K, which experienced launch of services from new players saw the highest additions at 6.31% closely followed by Bihar at 5.12%. Not surprisingly, the smaller towns are adding a lot more subscribers to the revolution as compared to the metros, which are on the verge of getting exhausted.

Yes that’s true if a draft information memorandum of the DoT is to be believed. According to the same, the ministry’s claims of having room for about 8-10 players in each circle does not hold true. Shockingly, there is room only to accommodate a maximum of 4 players in each circle. With the Indian market being highly competitive and housing just about a dozen players, the constraint would leave many of them empty handed.

Adding to the concerns, the ministry has already handed over spectrum to the public sector players – MTNL and BSNL. This would be the worst news for rookies in the field, who would be going against biggies like Bharti and Vodafone. The true picture will be exposed as we get closer to the auction dates. Till then its more of a nail-biting time for the beginners.

We have seen telcos fight it out through price cuts, but this time around the price cuts aren’t an effect of the price war, but an effect of a review that is on its way. The plan, which has been put forth by DoT, asks for a review of the termination charge that is levied upon operators. In simple terms, when an Airtel user calls up a Vodafone users, this charge has to be paid by Airtel to Vodafone.

This also justifies the attractive rates operators offer for calls made on the same network. The current charge stands at 30paise per minute and hasn’t has stayed unchanged since five years. With the scenario changing, and India adding millions of users to the revolution, there is a need to review the charges.

We Say: While we have always seen things from the users perspective, this time around too, we believe this move would bring down rates. And with new entrants waiting for their turn to unleash their services, the review would further widen the scope of a price war. However, we expect the process to take some time to be implemented.