Happy news for Indian youth!!!!!! Indian telecom operators making low-cost data tariff plans and freebies as they bet on increased data use by youngsters to revive their sagging profits. Aircel now offers free talk time for each purchase made at online shopping portal Yebhi.com and Reliance Communications has tied up with Facebook and Whatsapp for monthly plans at rock-bottom prices. The top telecom operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, have tied up with RIM to offer BlackBerry instant messaging service at RS129 a month to college students, a massive discount over the handset maker’s actual tariff plan.
After the initial boom years, Indian mobile service providers have been facing severe margin pressure. Over the last year, they have cut dealer commissions, distribution costs and purged inactive customers to drive profitability in business. Now, these firms have realised that they will have to rely on data services-oriented models to bring in revenues as the Indian youth takes to internet-on-mobile and social media at a lightning pace.
Communications this week announced a partnership with social media giant Facebook to offer unlimited messenger service at RS16 a month for its GSM subscribers. Aircel subscribers recharging their connections will get cash back for shopping at Yebhi.com, while non-Aircel customers shopping at the portal will get a free Aircel connection along with talk time. Falling prices of smartphones contribute heavily to this trend.
