Just Rs.19 To Change Your Telecom Operator!

Well TRAI has put all these rumors to rest by announcing that MNP would come into effect by 31st of December this year and the charges for shifting from one operator to another is pegged at a meager 19 rupees.

Now this should surely make the operators sit up and take notice as the dynamics between operators could change as this could bring a shift from the incumbents to the entrants in the telecom space.

Now TRAI has announced that the operators cannot charge the consumer more than Rs.19 to shift his number from one operator to another.

TRAI has announced that MNP would be implemented in category A circles by 31st December and by March next year the entire country would have MNP enabled.

How could MNP impact the players?

Given the low cost of shift this would bring into focus not only the number subscribers who shift but also the kind of subscriber as in post paid vs pre paid and premium vs low end. For example if I am currently with vodafone and my average bill is Rs.3000+ then I am a super premium customer and MNP could really hurt operators ARPU (average revenue per user) numbers if a customers like me make the shift. Hence the impact would not only be in % terms of subscribers i.e. no of subscribers moving out of an operators kitty but also in terms of lifetime value of customer to the topline of the operator. So its not only how many but who makes a shift which also counts.

How would MNP impact VAS players?

We have stated how we feel VAS players can only gain from this as this would bring VAS into the forefront both as a differentiator and as an attraction value. So incumbents like Airtel, Vodafone and RCom would use VAS to retain their subscribers while entrants like Docomo, Aircel, IDEA and others would use VAS to attract subscribers to shift to their network.

Opportunity for a Premium Brand/Player?

MNP throws up the opportunity to create a premium brand and for different pricing models for subscribers who are in the super premium category as far as monthly billing is concerned. Im one such subscriber and I can surely say that Ill be looking forward to operators vying for my 100 odd dollars (4000 rupees plus) a month in billing and providing me top of the line services. Till MNP every subscriber be it a 300 rupees billing customer or a a 3000 rupees billing customer was treated the same way. I expect this to change post MNP and expect operators to take a Bank like approach which they have for credit card i.e. Silver, Gold and Platinum card holder get very different customer service from the same bank. I expect the same differentiation to come in with respect to the amount of billing a customer generates for an operator in due course of time post MNP gets implemented.

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Bharti Airtel welcomes Twitter to India

Twitter is committed to fostering the open exchange of information because we passionately believe it can have a positive global impact. When people can exchange information freely and publicly they are able to accomplish great things. As powerful as the Internet has become for the democratization of information, its range is limited when compared to mobile texting—a format uniquely native to Twitter. There are over one billion people with internet access on the planet but there are more than four billion people with mobile phones and Twitter can work on all of them because even the simplest of these devices feature SMS.

We have seen people use Twitter to help each other during fuel shortages, track the spread of wildfires, check in during earthquakes, organize major charitable events, spread urgent news efficiently around the world, and much more. In many of these scenarios, texting has been the key. People exchanging information quickly and efficiently with the device that has become essential to everyday life, their mobile phone. In many parts of the world people do not have Internet access but they can text—and that means they can access Twitter.

As we grow, we seek to partner with organizations that share our vision for positive global impact. Our partnership with Bharti Airtel, the largest mobile operator in India, means a huge population of people can now send tweets at standard rates and receive tweets for free. Bharti Airtel is offering people in every city, every village, every remote taluk and even the smallest panchayat the opportunity to connect to Twitter and enjoy the open exchange of information with no added fees. We are proud to have Bharti Airtel as our partner. Give Twitter a try with your Airtel phone by sending START to 53000. And spread the word!

Twitter is not about technology, it's about people. We worked quickly to establish full SMS service in India with the largest operator because organic growth in the region has been unusually strong and there is huge potential for positive impact. India already shines brightly with Twitter advocates like film stars Priyanka Chopra @priyankachopra Gul Panag @gulpanag, and Mallika Sherawat @mallikala, director Karan Johar @kjohar25, Minister of State Shashi Tharoor @shashitharoor, upper house member Pritish Nandy @pritishnandy, news anchorsBarkha Dutt @bdutt and Vir Sanghvi @virsanghvi, plus media outlets MTV India @MTVindia and NDTV @ndtv just to name a few.

Twitter SMS Arrives in India via Airtel

If you are in India and an Airtel customer, the good news is that you can now send updates to your Twitter account from the mobile phone itself via SMS.

To get started, send an SMS message from the Airtel Mobile Phone to 53000 with “Signup” (if you are never used Twitter) or “Start” (if you already have an account on Twitter). The other option is that you can directly open theTwitter Devices page on twitter.com and link your mobile phone number with your Twitter ID online (see video below).

You can then send an SMS text message to the 53000 number and it will post directly to your Twitter profile, and will be visible in the timeline of all your Twitter followers. Here’s an official list of all Twitter text commands that you can send from a mobile phone to interact with your Twitter stream.

If you are not using an Airtel connection, there’s no reason to worry as the Twitter-Airtel deal is not exclusive and will probably end after a month. Here’s the official word:

Twitter will be available in India on SMS only on the Airtel network. There is exclusivity for the same for 4 weeks, in which only Airtel consumers will be able to use the service on SMS across the nation. This period of exclusivity is something that we want to take advantage of and make sure that Brand Airtel can own the property Twitter in consumer mind space.

You save money because you don’t have to send an international SMS for using Twitter but the service is still expensive. Twitter doesn’t charge anything for sending updates but you’ll have to pay a buck to Airtel for every tweet that you send from the phone. To stop getting Twitter updates on your mobile phone, just send OFF, STOP, or QUIT command from your mobile phone to 53000 or use “ON” to start again.

Video: How to use Twitter on a mobile phone

Sneak Peak Into Twitter at Airtel

Yet again another first from Bharti Airtel and this time it’s the sweet little blue bird from Twitter that has landed into their nest. Bharti Airtel the leading telecommunications company in India has tied up exclusively with twitter to provide sms tweets to its customers. So whats the fuss all about?

Users can send and receive tweets via the Twitter website, Short Message Service (SMS) or external applications. The service today in India works only on a web or a WAP site (basically needing the consumer to be internet ready).Finally Twitter will be available in India on SMS only on the Airtel network.

There is exclusivity for the same for 4 weeks, in which only Airtel consumers will be able to use the service on SMS across the nation. This period of exclusivity is something that we want to take advantage of and make sure that Brand Airtel can own the property Twitter in consumer mind space.

How does one register for Twitter?

New User

• SMS Signup to 53000 @ Re 1 per SMS

• Follow instructions to go ahead and complete the registration

Existing User Wanting to link their device to the Twitter A/c

• SMS Start to 53000 @ Re 1 per SMS

• Follow instructions to complete linking your Airtel phone to your Twitter A/c

General Guidelines & Keywords to Twitter Use

http://help.twitter.com/forums/59008/entries/14020

What is that any consumer needs to be able to use Twitter @ Airtel?

There are 3 types of consumers on Twitter :

• New User SMS Signup to 53000.

• Existing User with only a Twitter id but having linked the mobile phone to the Twitter account SMS Signup to 53000.

•Existing User with a Twitter id and having linked the Mobile number to the id. The consumer will be directly active on the service. There will be nothing that the consumer will have to do.

Yet another exciting VAS from Airtel. Its hopeful that it will attract a good response from customers as a lot of Indians are on Twitter these days.