Nov

28

Mobile Carriers in India- What next? part1

Filed Under Emerging Sectors, India Business, India Investment Opportunities, Indian Companies, Internet in India, Metros, Mobile Telecom, Tier-2 Cities, Tier-3 Cities | Leave a Comment

5.5 million new customers are subscribing to a mobile connection each month in India. At the end of December 2006, the number had reached 150 million subscribers. According to a research agency iSuppli Corp, the subscriber base will triple by 2010 and reach close to 480 million, thanks to rural penetration of the mobile carriers.

With such a huge market to capture, the pie seems big enough for all wireless carriers. This leaves little incentive for any mobile carrier to try and distinguish themselves from the others, since with increasing consumer base; the revenues are bound to come.

But from a marketers’ perspective, here’s the big challenge: “Should we allow the market to grow in their natural course? Or should we do something to develop the market and pull ahead from the rest of the pack?”

In the International Data Corp(IDC) survey conducted on the ‘Mobile Service Usage and Satisfaction’ only 3 among the 11 mobile service providers emerged as the most preferred operators – Airtel, Vodafone and BPL Cellular. While Airtel and Vodafone are two national brands, their marketing strategies are quite different. 

While Vodafone (or Hutch) has maintained a classy positioning, beginning with the “Hi! We’re Hutch” ad campaign, to the cute puppy following you around, Airtel has forever been the Indian brand appealing to the masses, with bollywood icons like SRK and AR Rahman.

But today, it doesn’t matter. As per the survey results as many as 28 per cent of users shift services, even if they were satisfied with their present provider — lured by an even better service or (more likely) by special offers! So this is looks like one example of where all the brand positioning effort is not helping out.

About the Author: Ishan Sethi is a Sales & Marketing professional with keen interest in emerging sectors and India business opportunities. He is an alumnus of Indraprastha University and IIM Lucknow. He can be reached via the Contact page.

Nov

23

India China- Business Growth Numbers

Filed Under India Business, India vs China | 1 Comment

In 2002, the bilateral trade between India & China was just USD 5 billion.

In 2006 it had jumped to USD 25 billion.

And in the first half of 2007, the India China bilateral trade crossed USD 17 billion, so the 2007 number is expected to touch USD 35 billion.

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