The wired broadband industry has grown leaps and bounds in the last few years. The revolution which Reliance Jio did in 4G network and data plans was slightly repeated in the case of JioFiber. But, not entirely since the readiness of Bharti Airtel and other broadband service providers had softened the launch of the service. But still, the growth of the wired broadband sector is visible from the TRAI reports and the fact that even the public telecom operator, BSNL, was able to add 1.1 lakh wired broadband subscribers in the last month alone. However, even with the industry booming under the shadow of the pandemic, there are many ways in which broadband plans can improve with a small impetus from the telecom companies. Here I discuss some of the ways in which broadband plans can be made more attractive to lure the customers and inevitably generate revenue for the telcos.
OTT Services
This one goes without saying. However, OTT services have become a lot common in recent times in the higher-end plans. The only telecom company which was left out in this regard was BSNL, but even the BSNL broadband plans now come with some OTT content. The only rungs which have been devoid of this are the low range broadband plans. It’s notable that in the era of so many OTT services available, there are certainly some low-paying content services that can be bundled with the lower-end plans whereas the premium services like Prime Video or Netflix can continue to come with the higher end plans.
Long Term Options
The only telecom operator which seems to be bullish on this front is Reliance Jio. Even though You Broadband has some very attractive long term plans, they don’t seem to be as much popular as JioFiber’s. This is something the telecom companies can look into for increased ARPU and retention. The consumers also like paying for the long term with a discount, whereas the telcos get the guarantee of holding the customers for the long term.
Accessories
This is another area where Reliance Jio’s JioFiber seems to be taking a lead. A lot of times people have to resort to externally bought extenders to improve their Wi-Fi network and this is something that Jio seems to understand well. Not only this but a lot of other accessories can be shipped with broadband connections to make the life of users much easier.
Bundling Other Services in a Group
Apart from these, there are other services like voice calling which surprisingly a lot of telecom operators do not ship yet. Even in the case of broadband providers like Tata Sky and You Broadband, it’s unlikely to hear about the telecom operators bundling a plan with postpaid, or DTH offers to avail discount to the customers which can be an attractive prospect. Bharti Airtel’s move of bringing all its services under a single umbrella and a single bill is appreciable as it allows the users a lot of easy access and bill payment and a lot of times, attractive discounts also.
