4G Blame Game Between Airtel and Reliance Jio - Why Only Airtel, Vodafone & Idea Not others

The ongoing war of words between Airtel and Reliance Jio is nothing but new business strategy. If one look at the news reports, 90% of the blame is targeted towards Airtel.

It's also interesting to know that 2 Cr call drop is happening just because of that and it indicate the number of subscribers Reliance Jio acquired in recent weeks.

We failed to hear any statement from Reliance Jio that X number of call failure because of Reliance communications, Aircel, BSNL which is controlling more than 27% of the total wireless user Base.

It means that Reliance jio received full cooperation from them and there is no issue when it comes to MNP for those users who want to port in on to Reliance Jio, No call drops or negligible call drop. If yes or no, Reliance Jio should release the statement to justify their statements.

It's being observed that the three bugs are on Reliance jio hit list whereas the others are in ignores list.

As claimed by Jio that the call drop problem is not there in Jio to Jio call and they might be right whereas they should understand that in a scenario of jio to other network, interoperability plays a key roles. Reliance jio cannot just throw Airtel claim indicating that there must be issue with Reliance jio network but should work closely with Airtel to rectify the bug and fix it.

I kept on writing in my previous article that Reliance Jio is going to face the. music once concurrent user base will increase and we can feel the pain point attached with Reliance jio.

Being a keen learner, I kindly request Reliance Jio to release the call failure rate because of non top three.

In my point of view, Reliance jio should stop thinking that their network is the best and they may get their way all the time. Collaboration is the way to innovation not blames game.

Aadhar Integration with Mobile Phone - Missing the Masses

Indian Telecom regulatory body wishes to integrate Aadhar  Id with mobile phone to streamline one unique identification number. Very good initiative from regulatory body as well as government.  Even more encouraging that most of the Indian as well as International mobile phone companies are                         

Working on integration process. The integration of biometric mechanism will again be integrated with Smartphone devices using American based Technology company product line. At the same time Google and Apple   is opposing the move citing privacy and hacking concerns. INDIA with more than billion Aadhar card holders and around billions wireless users, the move is really appreciable but the move half  hearted. 

While chalking out the plan no body is bothered about those users who are not using smartphone. 

When government is focusing on those citizens who are deprived off government help as well as tracking the trend of government policy implementation but mostly those users are residing is rural sector. Even though some of the needy citizens who lives in Urban area are predominantly using feature phone.

In my point of view, government as well as device manufacturer should come out with solution which should cover both the device segment.

Based on my limited understanding,when the Aadhar server is already in place and user can use device only using the wireless devices then we should leverage the wireless network capabilities. In my point of view,the innovators sitting in wireless companies can solve the problem. We must remember that each aadhar card is attached with mobile number and most of the user do not surrender SIM but port to different network operator using MNP.

The initiative to map Aadhar with device will yield result but if one want better result than mapping aadhar with wireless operator will yield better results

India 4G User Acquisition & Retention - Who is Suffering at the End

Reliance Jio entry into Indian Telecom sector started creating scenario wherein incumbent operators are at the spot.

Latest in the saga, Reliance Jio again approached TRAI and accused Airtel,Vodafone and Idea for blocking users who wants to port out of their existing service providers to Reliance Jio network.  The number involved in total is less than 200 and that shows Reliance Jio commitment towards their potential user.

At the same time, incumbent cannot let the user port out of the network till the guideline of the Mobile Number Portability set by TRAI.

Indian incumbent operators faced the music of MNP and how end user exploited it in 2012 to 2014 era  wherein user took the service of one operator with goodies and then ported out to another one post exhausting the goodies.

In 2012 to 2014 era challengers like Telenor  and others used MNP in their favor and acquire millions of user but unfortunately most of the user were low ARPU user.

It is surprising that based on the reports published in leading new paper not mentioned  Aircel, Reliance Communication and other which in my point bring me to a conclusion that Reliance Jio is only facing problems with three leading incumbent operator. It would be great to know about BSNL user requesting for porting out and it's status.

The real test of porting in and out using MNP will show its class post Reliance Jio start commercial service. Till Dec 31 st 2016 most of the Indian mobile users will try to misuse Reliance Jio service as it is free. I am also delighted that this time around Reliance Jio is so focused about consumer but at the end consumers are suffering. If any legitimate user trying to port out then they should not be used as dice to play competitive strategy. It's a common practice by operator to put across many clause as some of the end user through their past act forced incumbent operators to put across multiple clause related to exit.

For few, mass is suffering and both incumbent and Reliance Jio should solve it the way they did it with PoI

Airtel Service Better than Reliance Jio - How

Reliance Jio launched its newly built 4G network and claims that it offers the best service. Most of the services based Applications and Platform for Consumer to Enterprise are off HD quality. They are claiming seamless high quality voice as they are using IP network. Here I would like to bring it to readers notice that Reliance Industry post their family division asked their corporate employees to move from Reliance Communications to Airtel and they were happy with Airtel Service. That is the reason that they took corporate voice and data service from Airtel and not moved to any other network.

Post their network readiness, just like political parties, they released to whip to its employee to move from Airtel and Reliance Jio followed by raising the Quality of service issues around Airtel and other network. The forced employees to use MNP to get the employees on their network. In my point of view, Being such a brand new network, Reliance Jio should support BYOD as well as it should be user decision to use Reliance Jio network or Airtel Network By using Airtel for more than 7 years, Reliance validated that Airtel Network is robust and they were happy with the services. Airtel should use these pointer's while selling their services

For more information please visit your You Tube Channel :- Devendra Prasad

Indian Telecom Sector Non-Focus Towards Consumer Awareness- May Hurt Business Prospects

Indian Telecom sector is facing tough time for the last 3 years and is expected to experience reduced level of tough business environment. Telecom service providers blamed regulatory un-certainty for tough business environment and lack of product adoption by Mobile Subscribers but that is partially correct. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Department of Telecommunication (DoT) India must be appreciated for coming out with mobile subscriber centric and supportive regulation such as Mobile Number Portability (MNP), Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS) and its amendment, Roaming and many more.

Indian regulator were forced to take such a drastic move as mentioned above post multiple and continuous reporting from media and mobile subscribers of unwarranted activation of services, billing and lack of customer support. Regulators moves were focused to bring in competitiveness among Mobile Service Providers and thus to bring back focus on service or network Quality of Service in order to retain or acquire new mobile subscriber. The current Telecom environment and its competitiveness are closely knitted with services or products which are influenced by enforced regulatory to the maximum level.

It raises a simple query that

• How many Mobile Subscribers are aware about their rights?
• How many of Mobile Subscribers are aware about the process of activate or deactivate any VAS services?
• How many Mobile Subscribers are aware about the process to escalate Unsolicitated commercial communications violating their privacy?
• How many Mobile Subscribers are aware about process to escalate billing related concerns to their service providers as well as to regulators?

Based on survey (1500 Mobile Subscribers), the results were shocking as less than 1% were aware of process and generic answer were that we try to get it resolve through customer care and being charged for the same.

Somehow, Somewhere Mobile Service Providers are still missing the link of getting connected directly with Mobile users. Mobile Service Providers analyzed any product or service or application adoptions based on the said offerings activation factor but they must realize that it is difficult to analyze a particular product success when multiple products are hosted and mobile users are not aware.

In most of the new product launch, 6 are going for broadcast messaging to all active MVAS user base or print media such as newspapers or TV advertisement. Mobile Service Providers at an average spend around 5% of their total revenue in ad spend but at the same time they failed to create an awareness among mobile subscribers which focuses on mobile subscriber rights. Different Mobile Service Providers are offering multiple toll free numbers as well as message formats to retrieve automated information for mobile subscribers. Most of the Mobile subscribers don’t remember those toll free numbers or finds it hard to replicate the message format to retrieve information but are forced to rely on Customer Care.

Isn’t it true that, there is “NO” print media or TV communications from Mobile Service Providers creating awareness about mobile subscribers daily Telecom related problem such as product performance, activation /deactivation request, and billing issue. Mobile Service Providers argue that they are running customer care (CC) and also advertise their customer care number through multiple medium. It raises another query around consumer awareness through print media, campaign management and TV advertisement for above mentioned issue. How many times, any mobile subscribers have seen any print media awareness program regarding MVAS, MNP, Roaming and Billing?

The Subscriber feels helpless post continuous attempt to launch simple complaint. It triggered negative response from subscriber to subscribe or renew new mobile value added services such as music, ringtone, Infotainment post double consent enforcement under MVAS regulation amendment. Under double consent regime, service providers must take mobile subscriber consent before charging subscriber for any services or products. The recent drastic fall in MVAS activation and exponential rise in MVAS deactivation is nothing but early warning system. The telecom ecosystem players must realize that it’s not regulation but lack of offered value attached with offered value added service or lack of awareness about offered services or products.

Indian Mobile Service Providers do not have an alternative but to improve on consumer awareness program without fearing that awareness is going to create an environment where mobile subscribers will be deactivating already running services or product but instead of that it will attract many new mobile subscribers to adopt existing or new services.

The further delay in adopting proactive approach towards Mobile subscriber awareness program by Mobile Service Provider will have cascading impact on Telecom ecosystem players. They would be rest assured that in any circumstance their concerns would be resolved on the fly and that is going to trigger higher adoption of new or existing services or products.

In my point of view, the current state of Indian Telecom Sector offer highest level of opportunities for innovative proposition to bring back rapid eroding value added subscriber base.