Telecom price war in India has got even fiercer with the introduction of MCard by MTS. So, for those customers who are not that happy with free incoming calls for life, MTS has come up with a plan, 10,00,000 minutes free or simply lifetime free outgoing. Of course conditions apply. Minimum of Rs 200 top-up over a period of 6 months is mandatory. And most importantly free call limit 150 mins/day is applicable only on local calls from MTS to MTS.
With more new players waiting to enter the Indian mobile market, its going to be an uphill task for the established players like Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone to retain their subscribers. They can’t wait and watch the new players like MTS eat into their market share with their aggressive plans. How about launching new brands focused on niche customer segments to tackle the competition.
South India based media giant, Sun TV Network use this strategy to the core to beat the competition. It uses group channels Sun Music, KTV and Sun News to fight the competition and protect the flagship channel Sun TV’s leadership in Tamil Nadu. To counter the TRP of Star Vijay’s popular investigative reporting show at 10 pm, Nadnathathu Enna, Sun News runs a similar show – Nijam at 10 pm. Sun Music has comedy show, Siri Siri at 10:30 pm to counter Kalaignar TV’s Comedy Clips at the same time. And then there is movie channel KTV, to counter any new or popular films from Kalaignar or Vijay TV.
Will a similar multiple brand strategy work in the Indian mobile industry? Well, it’s not a new concept in India. Tata Teleservices is already doing that indirectly with its Virgin Mobile alliance. Reliance communications also has options to differentiate as it provides both GSM and CDMA services in the same circle. That leaves Airtel and Vodafone.
Will Bharti Airtel and Vodafone lauch new brands to fight against the new players in the Indian mobile market?
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