Tata Indicom Enters Into Prepaid Segment

[Sanay 0]

9/3/2004 5:30:44 PM IST

Tata Indicom, a leading mobile service provider, has marked its entry into the prepaid segment by launching 100 % Sacchai True Paid, across all its existing 8 circles. With the latest initiative, Tata Indicom has opened up new frontiers for the Indian prepaid customers by offering 1-second pulse, 100 % talktime and 1 rate for local and STD calls on True Paid.

Unveiling the launch of True Paid, S. Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices said, "The roll out of Tata Indicom True Paid is a significant milestone in the unfolding of the Tata Group's telecom plans in India. In keeping in tune with true Tata spirit, True Paid, aims to be the most reliable, transparent, honest, and trusted telecom service in India and would be offering customers transparent tariffs with no hidden costs and a host of value-added features and benefits. Coming from the House of Tatas, True Paid customers can be assured of a quality service that rides on a world-class network and unparallel advantage in terms of both value and quality of mobile services offered."

Announcing the initiatives on True Paid, Amit Bose, President, Tata Teleservices Ltd, said," "Prepaid category has always been the real engine for the unprecedented growth of the Indian mobile market. Time has come to further charge up this segment. The onus is on the mobile operators to innovate and provide 'Honest and Transparent' offers to the customers. We are happy to announce that Tata Indicom has today launched True Paid, which signifies the only "100% Sacchai" Prepaid service in India.

"True Paid customers will get talk time equal to the value of recharge voucher, without deducting any administration charges or plan fees". We are confident that True Paid will open up new frontiers for the entire prepaid market and will provide the customer the ultimate transparent, reliable and honest tariffs that he seeks from the category, Bose added.

India's most successful cricket captain, Saurav Ganguly and the fastest pacer, Irfan Pathan will be the brand Ambassadors for Tata Indicom. Saurav and Irfan open their innings at Tata Indicom with the True Paid launch.

The tariffs for True Paid are the lowest in the industry and simple to comprehend. As part of the Introductory Offer, a free usage period until November 14th, 2004 would be extended to customers subscribing to True Paid from September 4th, 2004. During the Introductory offer, the customers can make 100,000 seconds call free, can send 2000 SMS Free and can download ringtones, games, wallpapers free depending on handsets. One Tata Indicom Calling Card, enabling STD and ISD services, of upto Rs100 on coloured handsets and Rs50 on Black and White handsets will be offered free to the customers.

Backed by a range of never before initiatives, Tata Indicom has become the first operator in the country to launch True Paid T-SIM (RUIM) enabled handsets. Under the revolutionary True Paid offer, customers can opt for RUIM enabled Nokia 2280 and Motorola C131 handsets. Besides this, customers can avail True Paid services on Nokia 3105, Kyocera- Blade, Rave and Phantom (non-TSIM handsets).

[Beetle 0]

Does this mean TWO MONTHS of free calls???? Does anyone have more details?

[Saurav 22]

Tata Indicom has become the first operator in the country to launch True Paid T-SIM (RUIM) enabled handsets. Under the revolutionary True Paid offer, customers can opt for RUIM enabled Nokia 2280 and Motorola C131 handsets. Besides this, customers can avail True Paid services on Nokia 3105, Kyocera- Blade, Rave and Phantom (non-TSIM handsets).

GTRAN 4020 is RUIM based so hoe is it possible that Tata Indicom has become the first operator in the country to launch True Paid T-SIM (RUIM) enabled handsets.

[tiger 0]

Pegasus,

They claim to be the first because they are the first ones to introducs the RUIM activated handsets.

Although Gtran and Nokia 2280 of Reliance do have RUIM slots, they were blocked and programming was done the traditional way.

Bye

Tiger

[Chirag 5]

"True Paid customers will get talk time equal to the value of recharge voucher, without deducting any administration charges or plan fees". We are confident that True Paid will open up new frontiers for the entire prepaid market and will provide the customer the ultimate transparent, reliable and honest tariffs that he seeks from the category, Bose added.

Quite interesting, but y do such things remain Introductory Only??? Its all kept to garner customers, n then in 3-6 months time, its all the same story again!

Guess, TATA is doing the RELIANCE way this time, and hope it doesn't end up in billing problems!! kudos to TATA to enter into this competitive Prepaid Segment! but 5paise/sec seems to not tht attractive for all! Anyways, Good Start

Tata Indicom enters wireless pre-paid space with new features

Mumbai , Sept. 3

The Hindu

TATA Indicom on Friday made an entry into the wireless prepaid space, with a service that is based on a one-second pulse, offers 100 per cent talk-time and — for the first time in the country — a flat tariff for both local and STD calls at 5 paise per second.

It is largely believed that the recent prepaid tariff war that started off with Reliance Infocomm's prepaid offer of 90 paise per minute (Reliance IndiaMobile(RIM)-to-RIM) was in anticipation of Tata Indicom's entry, and as an attempt to pre-empt any new promotional benefits that it may offer.

"There is no other operator who offers all three of our distinctive features together," said Mr Amit Bose, President, Tata Teleservices (TTSL), of Tata Indicom's prepaid service, at the launch conference in Mumbai here on Wednesday. "These are not promotional benefits, they constitute our main offer," he said.

However, though there is no promotional tariff offer, there is a bomb of a free offer, of one lakh free seconds (1,666 minutes approximately), 2,000 free SMSs per user, and free download of ring-tones, games, and wallpapers, (depending on the handsets bought) until November 14, 2004.

A tax is payable on the prepaid voucher which carries 100 per cent talktime, on account of the company not imposing administrative charges or plan fees.

Tata Indicom's service, called `100 % Sacchai True Paid,' will be aided by the simultaneous launch of two T-SIM-enabled CDMA handsets as well as four non T-SIM ones. "This will enable our users to be handset independent if they choose to, and to retain their SIM cards whenever they change handsets," said Mr Bose.

A black and white handset also comes with a Rs 50 Tata Indicom calling card and a colour handset with a calling card of Rs 100.

Our brand philosophy is explained in `True Paid,' said Mr Bose. "There are no multiple tariffs to confuse the user, no fine print, no asterisks," he added.

FROM THE TATA WEBSITE

TRUE PREPAID INTRODUCTORY OFFER

FREE 1,00,000 seconds of Local and Intra circle STD calls

FREE 2000 SMS across India

FREE One Tata Indicom calling card for making STD/ISD calls

(Rs.100 for colour phones and Rs. 50 for black and white phones)

Customers will have to use Tata Indicom calling cards to make STD/ISD calls till recharge vouchers are launched in October 2004. Calling cards available in all Tata Indicom retail outlets.

FREE ringtones, games, wallpapers, email and lots more exciting applications

(Services are handset dependent)

With recharge vouchers coming in October, you can also enjoy our additional services:

Inter-circle roaming

Voice portal

Call conferencing

STD/ISD on Recharge

But their Coverage is limited!

[kshah 452]

I think actual terriff are not told customers clearly. They are available here

http://www.tataindicom.com/products/voice/...paid/tariff.asp

See attached PDF file

TATA_Indicom_Prepaid_Mobile_Services.pdf

[all 0]

hey all,

Looking at the tarrifs of the tata prepaid , iot seems that its the coslty affair, other operator are much cheaper then wht it is fro the tata prepaid. and regarding the Gtran handset it workks with the sim card(RUIM CARD). so motly u can use the tata sim card in the reliance (GTRAN Handset). And reliance Ruim card in thee tata mobile. so now people have the option of changing the network reagrdless of the network if they r working on RUIM card..[/b]

[Chirag 5]

TATA indicom has infact a very simple Tariff.. The most simple i cud have ever seen... 5p/sec for any outgoing call Local or National.. And the same 5p/sec for any incoming call while Roaming! couldn't be more simpler to understand!

When i read jus 5p/sec... i wanted to know how they r goin to get 60p/minute minimum to pay the offnet charges.. And thts when my mind started moving..

Say, any average call wudn't last less than 12 secs? agreed?

and hence 12x 5p = 60p.. which they will eventually need to pay. But remember.. as ur call reaches 20 secs, i.e. u've spent, 100p... anything beyond that, gets so damn expensive. By the time u reach 60 secs, u've spent 300paise! Well thts surely quite expensive!! Who wants to pay that much for a local call?? Thts where i guess, they can fail !! They cant match to RIM's PREPAID Tariff on those fronts! Neither for outgoings nor for Roaming!

[dda 0]

tata had come up with good offer... at full talk time and one sec billing i think its the best offer available at this time....

consider reliance prepaid there charges is 1.79 per min.. in their voucher you get 50% talk time... you endup paying 3.58

lets see what other provider come up with...

[Beetle 0]

TATA indicom has infact a very simple Tariff.. The most simple i cud have ever seen... 5p/sec for any outgoing call Local or National.. And the same 5p/sec for any incoming call while Roaming! couldn't be more simpler to understand!

When i read jus 5p/sec... i wanted to know how they r goin to get 60p/minute minimum to pay the offnet charges.. And thts when my mind started moving..

Say, any average call wudn't last less than 12 secs? agreed?

and hence 12x 5p = 60p.. which they will eventually need to pay. But remember.. as ur call reaches 20 secs, i.e. u've spent, 100p... anything beyond that, gets so damn expensive. By the time u reach 60 secs, u've spent 300paise! Well thts surely quite expensive!! Who wants to pay that much for a local call?? Thts where i guess, they can fail !! They cant match to RIM's PREPAID Tariff on those fronts! Neither for outgoings nor for Roaming!

You forgot the some points here:

1. If you recharge for 325 you get 325 of talktime. No monthly plan charge. Net effect, you get more than RIM prepaid interms of talk time, and a LOT MORE SMS. At 1Rs per sms you will have 325sms per month. Compare this to RIM.

2. About Offnet charges, I thought it was billed to the operator not the customer. If Reliance lands 10000 mins of calls to AirTel then reliance will pay 100000*charge. This 100000 would be the addition of UNROUNDED call duration. i.e. a ten second call is added to a 40second call etc.

So, the TATA Indicom offer is actually feasible. And what happened to the TRAI directive that calls have to be metered at 1 min pulse which forced RIM to withdraw 15second pulse for DAPO.

[Chirag 5]

And what happened to the TRAI directive that calls have to be metered at 1 min pulse which forced RIM to withdraw 15second pulse for DAPO.

All Tariffs tht have been recently announced are Subject to TRAI Approval. Even TATA had started 15sec pulse. but they slowly withdrew it!

MTNL was asked to withdraw its 12 sec pulse (WLL service) long back, by TRAI.

All u can do is wait n watch.

Does TRAI anymore take interest in TARIFFs? Not heard from TRAI since long abt sacking or interfering with TARIFFs these days! Guess, they r busy with CABLE TV rights these days!

[raccoon 53]

And what happened to the TRAI directive that calls have to be metered at 1 min pulse which forced RIM to withdraw 15second pulse for DAPO.

I'd really like to know! Has RIM been lying all this time when its been saying that the 15s pulse has been withdrawn because of a TRAI directive??? How come Tata and BPL are being allowed to offer 1 sec pulse now?

[Chirag 5]

1. If you recharge for 325 you get 325 of talktime. No monthly plan charge. Net effect, you get more than RIM prepaid interms of talk time, and a LOT MORE SMS. At 1Rs per sms you will have 325sms per month. Compare this to RIM.

U'd get a 324 bucks refill and talktime of Rs. 300 on tht. Rest 24 go for taxes. Secondly no where have they mentioned abt their SMS rates! So dont be quite sure tht they'd give SMS @ 1 buck! U jus never know whts happening in this dynamic industry!

2. About Offnet charges, I thought it was billed to the operator not the customer. If Reliance lands 10000 mins of calls to AirTel then reliance will pay 100000*charge. This 100000 would be the addition of UNROUNDED call duration. i.e. a ten second call is added to a 40second call etc.

Yes they r billed obviously to the operator! But, it is said to be billed for every min n not for every second! and hence they want to bill the same to the customer. If u see the recent BPL call rates, it clearly indicates how it works! 1p/sec + 60p/min is their call charge! So even if u talk for 3 secs.. ur call charge becomes 63p !

I'd really like to know!  Has RIM been lying all this time when its been saying that the 15s pulse has been withdrawn because of a TRAI directive???  How come Tata and BPL are being allowed to offer 1 sec pulse now?

Now who wud know better than TRAI on this! If u have tht kind of time, do visit TRAI website n maybe u'd find details. But as u mentioned, BPL is not really offering per sec pulse. TATA is... but ..... blah blah... (tired )

[Beetle 0]

Ya.. Tired Chiraag this is how the consumer loose . There is a thin line between maintaing a Hobby and being paranoid isnt it?

[Saurav 22]

Although Gtran and Nokia 2280 of Reliance do have RUIM slots, they were blocked and programming was done the traditional way.

gtran is and has got a ruim. its only handset which is ruim enabled.

[kshah 452]

I dont know you guys think that its 5 paise / sec. Link I posted http://www.tataindicom.com/products/voice/...paid/tariff.asp, content of which I purposefully posted in PDF format too. Ofcourse today this page is not working (404). So what was the truth?

Are terriff published for may be a day are the terriff eventually they are going to introduce?

In ahmedabad TATA CC says they will have details after say 1 week.

[Dhirens 1]

Hi.

I was under impression that Reliance Prepaid is the best. But recently came to know that TATA is giving better offer in prepaid segment.

TATA voucher gives Rs.300 talk time ( Rs.330 - service tax Rs. 30 ). They charge second wise. ie. Pulse per second and 3 paise per sec.

I feel this is best option available in prepaid market. Also check tata network and they covered all major cities. In few months, they will cover entire india. So reliance advantage of roaming across the country will end in CDMA as TATA too will give this facility.

Please post your comments here so we all can conclude who is the best. Kindly give reasons for your choice.

Rgds,

[sukhi 0]

RIM has only one Advantage, All India Roaming. Not sure about TATA and its cost.

[rakesh5295 0]

Tata is also having this as a promotional offer i think and at a later stage definately tata will have to roll back to something like relaince is giving. At present u fine it cheap beaucse still tata is not there all over india so tata is bound to be cheap due to its in ability which it compensates by cheap pricing like relaince was doing in the intital stages while the gsm player didnt lower the price as they provded best service. Time to come if u compare with service and price then i think reliance is always the best. it will pay fines but provide the best service. the starting of relaince and tata was nearly at the same time while tata has 9lakhs customer or so relaince has 91lakhs or so. see the difference.

[ashras99 0]

Reliance have so many customers because available in many cities and impressive companing like (Rs 501/- scheme) but I think TATA is much better. And in fact Tata recently also launched a TATA to TATA all over India is absolutely free just for Rs 99/- extra per month.

And reliance giving only free in circle on RCV of Rs220 and Rs440.

But dont know regarding Internet speed, which one is best. May be rightnow Tata because of less users.

[Puneet 0]

And in fact Tata recently also launched a TATA to TATA all over India is absolutely free just for Rs 99/- extra per month.

24245[/snapback]

Tata to Tata @ Rs. 99/- pm is a Push-to-talk service which is more like a walky talky rather than being a phone service. PTT and phone service both have their own pros and cons and they can't actually be compared.

And Tata still needs to do a lot more in network coverage before we start comparing RIm and Tata Indicom Mobile in a true sense. Simply speaking they are still not at a level playing field.

[VivekRaja 0]

I think TATA will get back the Scheme after some time. Reliance is the best one under the Service & CustomerCare.

Any one try to contact the Customercare? Very Poor customercare. Always they give some DoT(BSNL) numbers to clear the Doubts. So it is not a TollFree.

And Net Speed is very Slow. (Net Speed is My Friend,s Experience, I'm not try)

Don't Suggest any one to goto TATA.

[TeeKay 0]

completely agree with you vivek!! Tata's customer care centre is pathetic, i took a FWP connection in october 2004 and they did not have my details till december and after giving them so many requests they had not done it till end december. every month i recieve 15 - 20 calls from them confirming if ihave paid the bill and even after paying the bill, recieved atleats 15 calls for the next 10 days confirming the same...i don't know if they think we are gonna run away with their money or are all frauds!!

about the net speed.....well i took their connection primarily for accessing internet as they had the Rs.1500 unlimited plan which reliance did not have back in october, and believe me its an absolute pain......the speeds promised by them is 60kbps and you can get this maybe once in 24 hours...normally download speeds are 5 KB/s (40 kbps) with lots of errors nad most of the daytime the connection wouldn't work......within a few days i started believing they offer UNLIMITED internet at 0 kbps!!!

having gone thru all this i switched to relaince the day they came up with platinum plan for inetnet access and believe me i've been more than satisfied with the speeds i expected for the same money.....i usually get download speeds of 14 KB/s and 17 KB/s at night and till date have not experienced any downtime, and the customer care which otherwise is average seems great when you compare it with TATA.

i know i might be sounding anti-TATA with all these comments, but trust me these are my experiences with TATA indicom....don't believe me, go to............

http://www.vinuthomas.com/gate.html?name=Forums

and look for other people's feedback on tata's services.......... wish they could have a service matching their surname and clean image!!!!!

[solanky 0]

Almost all of the members here have posted negative comments for Tata Indicom mobile comparing to Reliance. Although I have never used any of them but I am sooner going to take a reliance connection as I posted in other posts also. But when I tell my decision to my friends everyone has asked me to go for Tata because tata has improved now. They say that "Reliance is Chor".(Moderators can edit this line if they think it is looking bad.)

Has Tata Indicom improved really now???????????

[v4victory 0]

i think i will also shift to the tata now can anybody suggest me the handset to choose