If you see telecom market is going through some dull moments, all are waiting for the spectrum pricing decision to be taken by EGoM. However what happens to excitement around 4G? 4G excitement is now lowered down because no second player in the market, Airtel is just sitting alone on 4G space with their costly devices and not-so-bad tariff plans. There is no definite date from Reliance Infotel about launch or preview, rather it is heard that their Jamnagar 4G trial is delayed. Another 4G player Augere is considering their plans – to leave or exit India.
Only thing I find these days positive is revision of 3G tariff which is now very much affordable. Well back to 4G – Airtel seems just fails to live the 4G hype. Less than 1% of consumers are buying Airtel 4G services.
Now as Airtel is the sole player on 4G/LTE space I don’t think it is logical to cut down tariff in immediate future until another 4G player comes in. Earlier I thought that Airtel will do push 4G as an alternative to wired broadband to reach areas without broadband. But that theory does not work in a non-competitive market.
Now what Airtel can do for better 4G penetration? I checked out some of Asian operators who already in 4G/LTE business and their tariffs & strategy. Some of them are quite good from the consumers’ perspective which ultimately help to push 4G.
1. Expand 4G/LTE services to Delhi and Mumbai for first mover advantages
Airtel got the pie of 4G spectrum in Delhi and Mumbai and 2 other circles as they bought 49% of Qualcomm India’s 4G venture. In many forcasts on 4G in India, it has been confirmed that Delhi and Mumbai will generate most of the revenue over 4G.
Before Infotel steps in, Airtel should try to roll out 4G/LTE services in these two most lucrative circles, where they can get the boost as first mover.
2. Cut down device price to lower down ‘Entry Point’
I don’t expect the price cuts to Rs 2-3K from current 8K, but certainly a reduction in price to Rs 5-6K will reduce the entry point, which may leverage into better 4G device and plan sale. Also adding 3G data (discussed later) can help in 4G service sale.
3. Free Device Concept fails – Rather add data benefits at no extra cost
Currently Airtel offers 4G in this way: Buy the device at full payment and get some discounts over 6 or 12 months to recover the cost. There is no problem with this strategy, but Indian consumers don’t like this way. Rather Airtel should try this way – 5GB data free for next 3 months and forth month onwards you can opt for any prepaid or postpaid plans.
Note: STC in Saudi Arabia offer 10GB/month data for 3 months after customer buys the 4G dongle paying full amount.
4. Night unlimited 4G plans
Airtel for time being, as a part of promotion as well as to check network stability can offer unlimited usage at night for 4G customers. Even 2 hours free every night will work to win youngsters’ heart.
Note: Etisalat in UAE offers 12am – 3am unlimited usage on every LTE plans including Pay-as-you go.
5. Add 3G data and pan India data roaming at no extra cost on existing 4G tariff plans
I know many people who travel a lot, and ready to shell out Rs 8K to subscribe to Airtel 4G, but they are not interested as Airtel 4G works in Kolkata and Bangalore only. Airtel via ICRA has 3G presence all over the country (except Orissa), so why they don’t add soem 3G data (double of 4G data) and enable pan-India data roaming at zero extra cost. It will suit for enterprise customers.
Note: SingTel in Singapore adds 50GB 3G data with its only 10GB 4G data plan, as 4G coverage is still low.
Rohan Singh June 28, 2012 at 12:54 pm
Is Airtel’s 4G modem Locked to Airtel or can be used with any operators ..?
Shinefire June 28, 2012 at 8:55 am
As long as the Airtel do not lower the price of the 4G dongle to the prince level of 3G sticks and lower their tariff to near 3G levels, no one will be interested in them and they will lose the first mover advantage once other players with lower plans come into the play.
Chinmoy June 27, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Agree with krishnendu
krishnendu June 27, 2012 at 9:47 pm
no 3g player giving night unlimited!so how can one expect to get from 4g!
kankan June 27, 2012 at 6:20 pm
Very good article Rudradeep, you should forward this to airtel i am sure it will beneficial for all of us.
i think only unlimited plan makes the difference in sales of airtel but other suggestion are also very good.
abhijith June 27, 2012 at 5:06 pm
Good idea to have unlimited night plan
-RP- June 27, 2012 at 4:38 pm
Your points are just too good especially No.3, No.4 and No.5
But you know how big losers they are, they took 1 full year to realise what should be the price of 3G service. BSNL was among the first service provider to feel the pulse of the Indian Consumer. But they fail to capitalize that.
This link should be posted in Airtel’s FB/Tweeter Pages.
Ganesh Srinivasan June 27, 2012 at 4:02 pm
Good news
I organized a demo of Airtel 4G for our apartment association
Inside the house we were able to get 11 Mbps speed using their indoor CPE – WiFi router
The best part is they have dropped / are dropping the prices of USB dongle and indoor CPE WiFi router to Rs 5,000 from Rs 8,000 effective Monday 25th June 2012
May be you will see formal announcement soon
helpu June 27, 2012 at 2:44 pm
airtel is not going to listen it. Their 3G network is slowest, gives 2mbps (downld speed- 150kBps). 4G is also going to be the slowest after other players launch it
Abc June 27, 2012 at 2:37 pm
Airtel will never follow these recommendations. Only Reliance can give them nightmares for now and force them to reduce tariff and expand + improve coverage.
By the way, this needs to be sent to Sunil Mittal’s official email address so that he notices this.
Harish June 27, 2012 at 2:24 pm
Well rudradeep and TT will be happy if these suggestions were implied in Kolkata.
Kanaga Deepan N June 27, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Don’t worry… Greedy AirHELL will never follow these steps…
Sreekanth June 27, 2012 at 11:08 am
Will airtel listen all this? Definitely Dongle is costly and bad thing is I think we can’t switch service providers.
Srikanth Reddy June 27, 2012 at 10:42 am
@Rudradeep Are you dreaming? This never going to happen in airtel, especially that night unlimited plan they never implement.
Tharun George June 27, 2012 at 10:33 am
I always like night unlimited. All 3G, 4G and broad operators must bring night unlimited. I can download almost 300GB/ month on my asianet 4mbps (2am-8am night unlimited) plan.