Prepaid users get a minder in Mubble

Mubble, a mobile app, intends to make life simpler for prepaid smartphone users in India. Almost 95 per cent of the mobile users in the country are on prepaid connections.

The biggest difficulty with prepaid connections is the lack of a record of deductions from the prepaid account. While providers notify users after every deduction, they do not provide a comprehensive record of all such deductions.

The user is, therefore, at loss to understand where the balance disappeared. This becomes more so relevant in the case of data packs wherein deductions are made not only when an app is used, but also due to the app running in the background.

Therefore, what Mubble does is collate provider notifications on the app, and present a comprehensive record of deductions and app specific usage to the user.   “Prepaid is a mindset of control,” says Ashwin Ramasawmy, CEO, Mubble. He believes that prepaid connections are popular simply because they offer a sense of control to the user, unlike postpaid connections.

The app is focused on tier-2 cities which host a large section of prepaid users. It mainly addresses the concern of deductions made on apps running in the background which many new data users fail to understand, he said.

It is the only app in the category that works seamlessly on dual SIM phones, says Ashwin. He finds that a majority of dual SIM users use the second SIM exclusively for data to check usage, and Mubble addresses this concern comprehensively.

The cost per download on the app is about Rs 10, as opposed to the Rs 45-Rs 50 as in the case of other apps, he claims.

Mubble is set to bring out more features including alerts and recharge facility very soon. “While we are quite set on the consumer side, the only challenge we face is in finding the right team to build the app. And that is what we want to concentrate on now,” said Ashwin.