DIVIDE AND RULE!

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“I think we have a good opportunity to bring refreshment to the category and delight the customers,” avers Gurdeep Singh, Chief Operating Officer, Aircel. After all the company believes in ‘divide and rule’! In fact, this refreshment plan from Aircel comprises of offerings identifying distinguishable group of customers and designing specialised services catering to a specific target group. “The rationale behind this move is that in the recent past we have seen a slew of service operators launching their services and almost all of them have been pegging it on the price factor, which is a very ‘me-too’ kind of strategy,” reasons Singh.

Certainly, the underlying idea is to touch all target groups, but in a manner that is unique and apt for that particular group. For instance, while recently it added Delhi in its operational chart, the company realised that of the total population making use of mobile phones in the city, most of them are students or immigrants from other parts of the country in search of employment opportunities. So, to address the needs of students and immigrants, they have come out with separate tariff plans that would be relevant to these groups. In fact, Aircel has been applying this approach in almost every circle that it operates in. But then, there are many who feel that this is just a start up communication, while delivery will be a different thing altogether.

No doubt, it’s surely a novel way to lure customers and has already started turning heads, yet it would not be easy for Aircel to convert these raised brows into customers. Raison d’être: Markets like Delhi and Mumbai already have seven to eight players (RCOM too is present in both CDMA and GSM) fighting for a share in the pie that already boasts of a whopping 90-95% penetration level (almost saturated, wouldn’t you say!). In such a scenario, it would become difficult even for Aircel, with its differentiated approach, to actually persuade customers to switch their existing number or carry two cell phones. But the good news is that when we look at the bigger picture and see India as a whole, we find that the telecom penetration in the country currently stands at a meager 30%, which means a huge untapped market still waiting to be ruled. Moreover, the mobile number portability, which is expected to be implemented by early 2010, would give Aircel and others of its ilk a plenty of opportunity to really churn out some big bucks.

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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