For some three months now, i've seen Aircel taking a new approach towards the Indian market. It has been an old player, but the policies that it is following in the recent past seems new to the Indian industry.
AT&T, one of the world's oldest players in telecom, has been following the policy of increasing customer base by offering subsidised and locked handsets with a contract. Ever since the launch of Apple's iPhone, followed by iPhone 3G, 3GS and the iPad, its presence has increased. A pal of mine, who lives in Granada Hills, LA, has been using Verizon, and tells me that he used to have an AN&T connection, but quit due to bad service. Poor network, and frequent drops have been a feature of AN&T, but still it exists in the market , all because of some locked handsets and services.
Aircel has been following AT&T's policy lately. It recently launched Huawei Ideos - a good Android smartphone for around US$200(all inclusive of duties and taxes),and is providing special data plans for it. Aircel also has plans for releasing iPhone 4G in India soon(and that too when 3G has just been implemented well). 4G being out of sight for sometime now, Aircel's tactic of luring customers with a cheap good handset is quite evident.
I completely disagree with this policy. A network operator should emphasise on providing good mobile connectivity and service, and notselling some handsets. It would be just like if Shell would be selling cars for using with its petroleum products. Its a completely wrong approach. Its always the hen which lays the egg, not the egg which lays the hen !
Aircel has been providing really bad service in the Delhi, NCR.I had an Aircel number which i used to browse the internet on. Forget about the internet, just to make a recharge, it would take me hours to reach the IVR. And calling the cuswtomer care in situations of difficulties - a nightmare. It would take me atleast half anhour to get to talk to the customer care executive, and that too when the network won't drop the call, and the call would get connected to the customer care IVR(which itself would take atleast 50 attempts to get through). In order to bypass this nuisance, i had also visited the Aircel stores in Kalkaji ,South Extention and Noida. And what do i find - the executives there keep on chatting to each other, and not care at all about the customer whose been standing there for hours.
Companies like Aircel should learn from Vodafone and Reliance. Vodafone and Reliance GSM offer very attractive data and voice plans for specific handsets which you would buy from the open market. For example, Vodafone's offering 2Gb month free internet for six months to Nokia E7 users, Reliance GSM is offering the same for Samsung Galaxy series phone and tablet users. Vodafone's network is one of the most seamless network wherever it is present. Now that is a good deal. Two 3G provider companies offering really good tariff options. No wonder why Airtel's fearing that these two organisations might surpass its enormous wireless services customer base soon.
And for companies like Aircel, they need to look into their organisations. Being named in the INR 1,76,000,000,00,00 scandal, and facing a legal notice for cancellation of its GSM operation lisence in 4 circles, it seriously need to work out on some real good strategies for the long run, rather than the "lure and capture" policy.
What do you think? Do you agree with me, or have a different opinion? Feel free to pour in your comments
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