RIM Prepaid to be avl in 500 / 1499 / 1800

[Greens 21]

dude, itz 1499 and you get 2 recharge coupons preloaded. coupons are valid for one month and grace period is another 150 days.

[city02 63]

Till last month prices for the 3,500 prepaid offer had dropped to 2,000 without coupons (2 are already preloaded for 400 worth of talktime) in Mumbai.

Last week I bought one for my driver for 1,900 from Thane.

Now its available for 1,500 from Powai :'(

The outgoing calls are valid for a month and the free incoming for another 6 months after expiry.

Excellent for low outgoing users - cheaper than FWP (1,800 deposit).

Net cost (assuming you use up the 400 outgoing in 30 days) is now 1,100 only for 7 months of handset & service.

Hard to beat that 'grey market' deal!

[Greens 21]

hey itz total 180 days including the first month, that means 5+1 months.

[Greens 21]

LG & NOKIA handsets with 4 prepaid coupons are available for rs.2999.00 officialy......go grab it........great deal.............with 6 months validity.(1+5months grace period. really a cool deal)

[Mahidhar 3]

if the whole handset is avail for 3000 that too with vouchers, then the postpaid customers are being charged 3000 excess for the LG handset ... we have to pay 6350 totally !!! doesnt make any sense ... ppl are gonna get angry !!!

[city02 63]

Was that a joke ? Which dealer gives phone with 2 voucher for 1499 ? Please give contact details here.

If dealer told you, why are you asking that here when you know its a steal !!!!!!!!

Please post here if prepaid phone is available at Rs.500 or Rs.1500. Also inform who is giving such phones. Also inform what happens if new vouchers are not purchase and if the phone is to be returned to dealer.

Rgds,

Dhiren.

Goto Hiranandani, Powai (if you live in Mumbai area) and pick up from one of the electronic stores (on the ground floor) across Main Street from Rodas/Planet M.

I verbally confirmed the price of 1,500 with 2 preloaded coupons with the dealer for Motorola handset.

You will of course need proof of identity & address (even for prepaid).

Credit card payments will be 1-2% extra but you will get full warranty and a bill.

You can also have a limited selection of your phone number (from what's available at the shop).

I did not ask about the other prepaid handsets yet but will do so and revert back.

I have not directly confirmed any lower prices than this but logically with 200 of talk time, the fair discount should be 200 x 8 = 1,600.

Even best case of 324 x 8 = 2,592 so final price cannot go below 908 (= 3,500 - 2,592) for 2 preloaded coupons worth 400 for first month.

Anyone claiming to sell below this amount will probably be losing money so you should confirm the expiry date and balance amount (*367) before paying just in case its partially used up.

The dealer also informed me that there is a glut of prepaid coupons in the market because of this unofficial unbundling so the value of each coupon will only decline in the near future.

[Greens 21]

Motorola C131 is available for Rs.1499 with Rs.400 talktime.

Nokia 2280 is available for Rs.2499 with Rs.800 talktime.

LG RD 2030 is available for Rs.2999 with Rs.800 talktime.

Talktimes are valid for 1 month and a carry over period of another 1 month.

One can recieve incoming calls for another 5 months. So effectively for 6 months in total.

[Chirag 5]

RIM prepaid price falls

By: Marisha P Thakur

April 14, 2004

Mid-day.com

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Just like the price of a call per minute on a cell phone has fallen to one-fifth of what it used to be when it was first launched in India, the cost of Reliance prepaid service is also on downward trend of free falling.

For instance, even though Reliance Infocomm announced its prepaid service at Rs 3,500, dealers are now offering the service at even Rs 3,150.

In fact, discounting of the offer had started on the first day itself with some dealers offering the service at Rs 3,400 against the MRP of Rs 3,500.

Subsequently the rates had fallen to Rs 3,200 but the price seems to have hit another low now. It’s not clear how much more the price will fall to Rs 3,000.

“We haven’t sold a single Reliance prepaid connection for Rs 3,500. Instead we sell at Rs 3,150, which brings in decent profits,” says Rakesh Jain, a dealer in Malad.

On the prepaid scheme for Rs 3,150, a customer receives the Motorola C131 model with 10 vouchers worth Rs 3,240 with effective talk time of Rs 2,000, valid for six months.

After six months, one can receive incoming calls for another six months but cannot make any outgoing calls unless you buy more vouchers.

Dealers get creative

Certain dealers sell the connections even at Rs 1,900 by unbundling the package. “Instead of offering 10 vouchers, we offer two vouchers providing talk time worth Rs 400 and are valid for a month,” says another dealer in Lower Parel.

At Nariman Point, one can’t miss advertisements at dealer outlets offering the Motorola RIM handset for prepaid customers at Rs 1,499.

Consumers can buy talktime vouchers for the amount they need rather than getting overloaded with talk time of Rs 2,000 that they are forced to consume in six months flat.

[Greens 21]

Reliance Info pre-paid base set to cross 1 Million

Caption: "Reliance Info pre-paid base set to cross 1m"

Source: Business Line, April 14, 2004

Mr Shukla said the current total subscriber base of Reliance Infocomm is around 7 million though pre-paid subscriber base is expected to overtake the post-paid base within this year itself.

THE pre-paid subscriber base of Reliance Infocomm, which was launched nearly two months ago, is set to cross the 1-million mark soon even as the company has already withdrawn two post-paid schemes.

"Our pre-paid scheme should cross the 1-million subscriber base soon," the Reliance Infocomm President for Wireless Products and Services, Mr S.P. Shukla,

told Business Line. The scheme was launched in mid-February.

But the company has withdrawn two of its major post-paid schemes quietly. The Monsoon Hangama scheme, introduced in July 2003, was withdrawn a few months ago. The scheme was for a limited period, while the Dhirubhai Ambani Pioneer Offer (DAPO), which was launched along with Reliance IndiaMobile service too stands withdrawn. The DAPO scheme put Reliance Infocomm on the fast track picking up a few million subscribers within a year of its launch. Reliance Infocomm has, however, continued with other post-paid offers such as Budget 149 and 249, Economy 149 schemes.

Mr Shukla said the current total subscriber base of Reliance Infocomm is around 7 million though pre-paid subscriber base is expected to overtake the post-paid base within this year itself.

He said unlike GSM operators whose subscriber base is heavily tilted towards pre-paid, Reliance base will be more balanced.

He added that the post-paid, pre-paid ratio will be more balanced compared with that of GSM operators' subscriber base.

Mr Shukla said as Reliance had extended data-rich handsets to even pre-paid subscribers, it had been able to push sales faster.

However, the Internet based R-World, which offers live video of news and games, is expected to go pay from July 1.

R-world gets nearly 40 million hits everyday. The Internet service provided on the handset has also made the company the leading ISP in the country.

Mr Shukla said the pre-paid scheme has been made extremely flexible, which allows dealers to customise the scheme, according to the needs of the subscribers.

For example, a subscriber can either opt for the standard scheme of Rs 3,500, which includes a handset, and 10 free vouchers of Rs 320 each or pay a lower amount but get lesser free vouchers.

There are a total of 12 handsets which have been bundled with the schemes ranging from Rs 3,500 to Rs 35,000.

Mr Shukla said the total cellular subscriber base of all operators was growing at around 2 million per month and Reliance Infocomm had a 30 per cent share of the market.

Edited April 15, 2004 by Ashokjp