The launch of 3G services by the state-owned telecom operator, BSNL and earlier by another government run company, MTNL has finally put the country in league with other developed nations which have been offering the latest technology driven services on mobile phones. It?s another matter that had the 3G auctions been done on time, the private sector mobile operators would have also been able to provide the same, bringing about more choice and competition in the market. But that?s another story altogether. For the moment let?s assess whether these two firms, which have easily got a year?s headstart over their private sector counterparts, would be able to utilise it to their advantage.
To put matters in perspective, MTNL, which provides services in Delhi and Mumbai and entered the market more than 10 years back has already squandered the opportunity by failing to provide any strong competition to private sector players. Its bigger cousin, BSNL started well, provided tough competition and emerged as the second largest GSM operator within a year but then slowly lost the edge due to ministerial interference leading to tendering delays in ordering equipments to expand capacity.
Ironically this very ministerial benevolence has provided another opportunity?or should we call it the last one?to these two firms to recover lost ground. It was decided that since PSU firms face delays in ordering equipment, they should be provided spectrum ahead of private players and later, post-auction, be asked to match the highest bid price. The subsequent postponement of auctions to the next financial year once the new government comes in is a further blessing for these companies.
Now lies the tough task. It?s not merely launching the 3G services but marketing them effectively and cornering the high paying subscribers. The task is easier said than done for marketing and branding have been the biggest casualties of these two firms. Both BSNL and MTNL don?t have high paying users who are likely to migrate to 3G services. Globally, over a period of three years only about 10-12% subscribers have moved to 3G services from the plain vanilla 2G voice services.
?rishi.raj@expressindia.com
