Dual sim has tail-gated the telecom industry, with new operators in the market offering an array of schemes like free minutes and per-second billing. While subscribers cheer the plummeting tariffs, the telecom industry faces the increasing use of more than one mobile number by a single subscriber. Subscribers using two sims benefit by the reduced tariffs as they select the lowest tariff available with the new telecom player, thus bringing down their overall tariffs. This practice of using two sims not only ports a part of the incumbent?s revenue but also impacts the minutes of usage, since now the subscriber makes outgoing calls while receiving incoming calls on the other number.
When telecom players like SSTL, Tata Docomo and Reliance Communications (GSM) offered attractive pricing, it offered subscribers comparatively lower tariffs. ?Subscribers now get better pricing and will not mind keeping a separate number for outgoing calls, while retaining the other number for receiving incoming calls. Most of the new pre-paid sims are lifetime ones. Having multiple sims is affordable for subscribers as it brings down their current tariff,? said a Mumbai-based analyst.
?When we started our GSM service, we offered free minutes. Many people bought our GSM for outgoing calls but within 30 days all our subscribers who had pre-calling, started receiving incoming on the same number and thus became our permanent customers. This was our largest customer acquisition tool. Two sims serve a short-term purpose, maybe for a month or so. This is because the moment you make a call from one number, you start getting incoming call on the same number,? said SP Shukla, president, wireless, RComm.
While the industry celebrates over 10 million new subscriber additions per month, this might not give them enough reason to celebrate as a significant gap between sim cards and population penetration is also distort metrics like ARPU and minutes of usage. On the flip side, actual wireless penetration could be 20-30% lower than reported. The practice of dual sim cards has emerged due to an exorbitant fall in the prices of sim cards and the need to lower mobile usage or to keep two different numbers (one personal and other official). This also negates additional spectrum allocation on the basis of a subscriber-linked formula. The regulator might find it difficult to continue with the present subscriber-based criterion for spectrum allocation, given the rising practice of dual sims.
