In a bid to increase mobile penetration in rural areas of Punjab , Spice Telecom has come up with a mobile handset priced at Rs 599 with an offer of spice connection. Mobile penetration in the state is at 45.67%, mainly concentrating around urban areas. Around 66% population is residing in the rural areas of Punjab and the total mobile penetration in villages stands at 20%.
With an aim to exploit this immense potential of rural areas, the telecom service provider has chalked out a unique marketing strategy to market its product among villagers. Sharing its promotion strategy with FE, Subodh Srivastava, COO, Spice Telecom, Punjab circle said, ?To capture the rural areas, which are also accommodating significant chunk of migrant labourers, we will be holding ?bhaand? (street plays) and ?muniyadis? (public announcements).
Mukul Khanna, vice president, Spice Telecom added, ?The handset combo offer is a novel way of enhancing our penetration in the rural sector. We are working towards bringing users from even the remotest regions into the ambit of development. A unique intelligent audio interface system substitutes for LCD in the handset. Alerts on the mobile are called out through this mechanism. Thus, even people who can?t read, can use the phone by following the audio alerts. The phone will be available in a choice of languages including: English, Hindi and Punjabi; thus even semi-literate rural consumers can use it with ease.?