Telcos push tablet PCs at dirt cheap prices to raise data usage

Telecom firms are pushing tablet PCs at dirt cheap prices to their subscribers in the hope of cornering an increasing share of the data services market and help off-set stagnant revenues and declining profitability. Tablets PCs, which were till recently priced at a high Rs 25,000 and above, are being offered at much cheaper rates.

A top industry official said that the priority before operators now is to develop their clientele for data services to scale-up their dwindling average revenue per user (ARPU) as they can no more hope to make gains from voice calls alone.

For telecom companies, voice calls have more or less stagnated, which has seen their ARPUs dwindle. In order to offset this setback, operators are diverting a larger part of their spectrum usage for data services. This, they believe, is the only hope to bail them out of the financial crisis with banks unwilling to lend them funds to sustain their operations.

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LOOKING FOR REPRIEVE Operators' priority now is to develop their clientele for data services This is to scale-up dwindling average revenue per user (ARPU) For telecom companies voice calls have stagnated, hitting revenues To offset this, operators are diverting spectrum usage for data services Voice call tariffs have hit rock bottom over the last two years Last month, telecom firms started raising tariffs to stem fall in revenue  ON THE FIELD RCom launched its tablet PC priced at about Rs 13,000 RCom offers 50% discount on data plans for those buying tablet PCs from it Beetel Teletech, a unit of Bharti's Magiq is being offered at Rs 9,999 Beetel Magiq is looking to sell its product at a mass level Beetel, which has tied up with Bharti Airtel to offer bundled data services, may also look for similar tie-ups with other operators Videocon has hinted that it would launch these devices in the next few months Tata Teleservices had earlier partnered with Olive Tech to bring out its 3G-enabled tablet OlivePad Homegrown handset makers like Lava and Micromax are also likely to launch their tablets soon

India's telecom sector has seen voice call tariffs diving to rock bottom levels over the last two years. Last month, telecom companies started raising tariffs marginally to stem the fall in revenue growth and profit margins. Of the four carriers, each operating at 1.25 MHz totalling 5 MHz on the 3G spectrum, two are currently being used for data services, said an industry official. Telecom operators had bid for 5 MHz of 3G spectrum last year for operating data services and had paid Rs 67,719 crore for the air waves.

"This is exactly what we wanted to trigger," Mahesh Prasad, president, Reliance Communications (RCom), said recently. "We wanted to be a catalyst and give the industry a little push to make sure the device adoption and data consumption takes place at a robust rate," he added.

Low-cost tablets set to hit market

Leading operator, RCom launched its seven-inch tablet PC priced at about Rs 13,000 while Beetel Teletech, a unit of the Bharti group's Magiq is being offered at Rs 9,999. RCom has offered up to 50 per cent discount on its data plans for those buying tablet PCs from it. Beetel Magiq is looking to sell its product at a mass level. While Beetel has tied up with Bharti Airtel to offer bundled data services, it may also look for similar tie-ups with other operators.

Other telecom companies like Videocon have hinted that they would be launching these devices in the next few months. Tata Tele, which runs the Tata Docomo brand of mobile telephony services had earlier partnered with Olive Technologies to bring out its 3G-enabled tablet PC, OlivePad.

Courtesy: Mail Today