Honest 836 Report post Posted July 6, 2008 Indians junk SMS, rediscover love for calling as rates fall 7 Jul, 2008, 0037 hrs IST NEW DELHI: The Indian telecom customer has become wise. With telecom tariffs on a downward spiral, mobile customers are resorting to making a direct call rather then send a text message, also called SMS. Even as the average minutes of mobile phone usage is showing an upward trend, this has had a direct impact on operators’ revenues from SMSes. Latest figures released by sector regulator TRAI reveal that customers preference for texting in India has hit an all time low. From accounting for close to 8-9% of the operators’ revenues at one point, texting now provides GSM players with 4.3% of their total revenues, while for CDMA operators, it is a mere 1.8%. According to TRAI, the average number of SMSes that customers sent has fallen by 7% for GSM and 6% for CDMA operators during the last quarter. An average GSM user sent about 26 SMSes a month in the quarter ended March 08, compared to 28 SMSes a month in the previous quarter (Oct-Dec 07), 32 a month in the July-Sept quarter, 35 in the April-June quarter, 39 in the Jan-March quarter and 48 in Oct-Dec 06 quarter, TRAI said. Ditto on the CDMA front — the number of outgoing SMSes by customers using this technology platform fell to 16 per month after remaining flat at 17 per month for nearly half year prior to that, at 20 per month in Apr-June and 24 in Jan-March 07). Telcos however, see no reasons for concern. They share the view that “any fall in SMS revenues will be more than compensated by increase in the average talk time and revenues” from their customers. “For instance, while the average number of SMSes have been falling for several consecutive quarters now, the average revenue per user (ARPU) for GSM operators has stabilised and even shown a marginal increase for the first time,” said an executive with a GSM player. In fact, the regulator’s figures correlate with GSM players argument: For the first time in the recent past, the ARPUs of GSM players have shown an increase – despite most of the new additions coming from rural India. The ARPUs have moved to Rs 264 in March 08 compared to Rs 261 in Dec-07. “ARPUs for postpaid and prepaid services have shown an increase of 1.59% and 2.3% to touch Rs 638 and Rs 224 in March 08,” TRAI said. ARPUs in India are among the lowest in the world. The regulator said the usage of GSM subscribers has increased to 493 minutes per month per customer in Jan- March 08 quarter, against a constant 463 minutes for about six months prior to that. “Both, outgoing and incoming minutes of usage have grown by 7.04% and 5.49%, respectively, TRAI said. However, the picture is not so bright on the CDMA front: Their ARPUs and minutes witnessed major declines during the last quarter. While ARPU for the quarter ending March 2008 fell to Rs 159 compared to Rs 176 in December 07, the minutes of usage declined to 364 against 375 for the quarter ended December 2007 and 413 for the July-September quarter. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
