@ksh@T 20 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 NEW DELHI: Is it a case of sore thumbs? Indian consumers, traditionally considered avid texters, seem to be giving SMSs a thumbs down. According to the latest data from TRAI, the SMS usage, which has been on the downward curve since September 2006, has now dipped to record lows — the fall being 11% for GSM players and 15% for CDMA-based operators in the past quarter alone. These figures refer to the average number of SMSs per subscriber per month. While there is no data on the total number of SMSs, the absolute number is likely to have gone up simply because of the increase in the number of subscribers. If Indians are texting less, they are also talking less. For the first time in several quarters, minutes of cellular usage per subscriber have also fallen for mobile operators on both technology platforms. “Contrary to the trend observed in the past, minutes of cellular usage per subscriber (for GSM telcos) have declined by 2.94% from 476 minutes in June 2007 to 462 in September 2007. Both outgoing and incoming minutes of cellular usage have shown a decrease. For CDMA players, the average minutes of cellular usage per subscriber per month have come down to 413 for the quarter ended September 2007, compared with 462 minutes in June 2007,” TRAI said in its performance indicators report released on Tuesday. The fall in the minutes of usage and in the number of SMSs has resulted in the average revenue per user (ARPU) per month hitting an all-time low. The ARPU of GSM and CDMA operators have touched Rs 275 and Rs 173 per month, respectively, for the quarter ended September 2007, which stood at Rs 297 and Rs 206, respectively, in the previous quarter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
copperco2 24 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 the cause has been atributed to the change in sms codes and such like drop in per minute call rates..... as soon i got a connection which lets me talk for a minute at less than half the rate of an sms i.e. 40pasa for other calls and 15paisa for rim to rim, the attraction of sms has faded for me but still i do sms the same way i did earlier... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KumaarShah 143 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 Its true, I too have reduced my SMS outgo drastically. Not only is it boring, but mainly there is no SMS friendly handset in RCOM except maybe ppc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
@ksh@T 20 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 agreed kumaar Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
I_C_U 10 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 I thought Indians tend to talk most. However, as I observe, I have myself cut down on talking over mobile largely due to poor reception while travelling, call drops and network congestion. This is bound to happen as subscriber base increases without comparative upgradation of capacity. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kunal Hemrajani 1 Report post Posted January 2, 2008 (edited) Yeah..me too agree wid u all.. due to many factors our call n sms outgo hav been reduced.. Edited January 2, 2008 by Kunal Hemrajani Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
