<p>With country’s total subscriber base of around 500 million, the urban market has already reached a saturation. In fact in most cities the penetration levels are upwards of 80 per cent. New players are also fiercely fighting to poach customers from the older ones. Karnataka, which has more than 12 mobile operators, will soon witness entry of two more players. So the focus is now shifting to rural market.<br /><br />Bharti Airtel, the market leader in Karnataka, for example, claims it has network coverage of more than 84 per cent in the state and is now planning to expand to about 95 per cent within next 12 months.<br /><br />Bharti Airtel Karnataka Circle CEO Venkatesh V said, “We want our rural customers to be satisfied with our services, and as our new initiative we have started with vernacular SMSs. We are also in the processes of setting up a rural call centre and other services to help our customers in getting their service in local language.” The company also tied up with IFFCO, a fertiliser company, to provide daily SMS service on farming information to the farmers.<br /><br />Another major player in the state Vodafone also has created strategies to take services to the smaller villages in the State. Vodafone intends to cover all villages above a population of 5,000 and to take the net work coverage to 75 per cent. <br /><br />“We are committed to provide congestion free and quality network to our customers. In the last six months we have reached 300 rural markets including villages with less than a population of 20,000,” says Vodafone Karnataka Chief Executive Officer K Sankara Narayanan. Uninor, a joint venture between Norwegian telecom giant Telenor and Unitech, which started its operation in Karanataka on December 3, 2009, claims to have attained a strong customer base of 2.64 lakhs within one month of its operations. <br /><br />Uninor - Karnataka Hub Executive Vice-President Ann Hofvander, said, “We want to be a long term player in the telecom business in the country. We plan to double our customer base in the state within next few months.” Meanwhile, mobile service providers are exploring various options to increase the mobile phone penetration in the rural mart to raise market share. Operators have roped in handset manufacturers for providing service coupled with low cost handsets that support affordable access for rural population. For example, Aircel has partnered with Micromax for bundled offers. Airtel has also tied up with Karbonn mobiles, one of the low price handsets available in the Indian market. <br /><br />“We feel this kind of partnership will enhance the rural mobile penetration and customers in villages can buy mobile service and handset through this one stop shop model. We have not finalised the terms and offers in partnership with Karbonn” said Venkatesh. <br /><br />Apart from the network coverage the major focus areas of the players are to provide excellent after sales services to the customers and are planning for various service drives to retain the base. Airtel, which currently operates around 1,700 service centres plans to add 600 more centres in 12 months. Vodafone also intends to increase its rural focus with more service centres. Uninor also plans to open about 200-250 small format service centres across the state. The companies are also planning to offer customised recharge options, call and sms offers to woo more users into the world of mobile connectivity.</p>
<p>With country’s total subscriber base of around 500 million, the urban market has already reached a saturation. In fact in most cities the penetration levels are upwards of 80 per cent. New players are also fiercely fighting to poach customers from the older ones. Karnataka, which has more than 12 mobile operators, will soon witness entry of two more players. So the focus is now shifting to rural market.<br /><br />Bharti Airtel, the market leader in Karnataka, for example, claims it has network coverage of more than 84 per cent in the state and is now planning to expand to about 95 per cent within next 12 months.<br /><br />Bharti Airtel Karnataka Circle CEO Venkatesh V said, “We want our rural customers to be satisfied with our services, and as our new initiative we have started with vernacular SMSs. We are also in the processes of setting up a rural call centre and other services to help our customers in getting their service in local language.” The company also tied up with IFFCO, a fertiliser company, to provide daily SMS service on farming information to the farmers.<br /><br />Another major player in the state Vodafone also has created strategies to take services to the smaller villages in the State. Vodafone intends to cover all villages above a population of 5,000 and to take the net work coverage to 75 per cent. <br /><br />“We are committed to provide congestion free and quality network to our customers. In the last six months we have reached 300 rural markets including villages with less than a population of 20,000,” says Vodafone Karnataka Chief Executive Officer K Sankara Narayanan. Uninor, a joint venture between Norwegian telecom giant Telenor and Unitech, which started its operation in Karanataka on December 3, 2009, claims to have attained a strong customer base of 2.64 lakhs within one month of its operations. <br /><br />Uninor - Karnataka Hub Executive Vice-President Ann Hofvander, said, “We want to be a long term player in the telecom business in the country. We plan to double our customer base in the state within next few months.” Meanwhile, mobile service providers are exploring various options to increase the mobile phone penetration in the rural mart to raise market share. Operators have roped in handset manufacturers for providing service coupled with low cost handsets that support affordable access for rural population. For example, Aircel has partnered with Micromax for bundled offers. Airtel has also tied up with Karbonn mobiles, one of the low price handsets available in the Indian market. <br /><br />“We feel this kind of partnership will enhance the rural mobile penetration and customers in villages can buy mobile service and handset through this one stop shop model. We have not finalised the terms and offers in partnership with Karbonn” said Venkatesh. <br /><br />Apart from the network coverage the major focus areas of the players are to provide excellent after sales services to the customers and are planning for various service drives to retain the base. Airtel, which currently operates around 1,700 service centres plans to add 600 more centres in 12 months. Vodafone also intends to increase its rural focus with more service centres. Uninor also plans to open about 200-250 small format service centres across the state. The companies are also planning to offer customised recharge options, call and sms offers to woo more users into the world of mobile connectivity.</p>
