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Kripa Raman

MUMBAI, Jan. 4

WHILE the fourth cellular operators have started the spadework for launching services in their respective circles, one question that plagues the Mumbai user is how many brands will the metropolis eventually have?

Bharti Cellular, the fourth operator would launch its brand AirTel, of course. AirTel would be common to all the company's services across the country. While their brand name is a certainty, it will be a new one to the city nevertheless.

However, brand continuity is not a certainty with the other private players, feels the market. Following BPL's cellular arm and Birla-Tata-AT&T announcing their merger (which appears to have run into rough weather), it is not certain which brand name the current service of BPL Mobile will assume.

As for Hutchison, the market wonders whether Orange, its existing brand name in Mumbai, will continue. Orange has changed hands internationally although the parent company Hutchison has the licence to use the name in certain circles. A Hutchison official in Mumbai said they could use the brand for perpetuity in Mumbai. Meanwhile Hutchison was working on a common brand name for all its other circles in the country, he said.

To compound the confusion, State-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), which launched its GSM cellular brand Dolphin in the city in 2001, has launched its limited mobility service, Garuda , this year. ``The common user has no clue what the technology is all about; to him, he has an instrument that is mobile,'' said a telecom analyst.

It would mean a lot of money wasted on past brand spend as well as on new brand development, said an analyst.

``Where pricing may eventually be the same across operators, it will be branding and services which will make for success; we will then be like just any other FMCG industry,'' said a cellular official.

The pre-paid cellular service facility is going to be a key strategy for Bharti Cellular in its Mumbai circle, where it has secured the fourth operator cellular licence and where it will launch services this year.

The prepaid strategy, says a Bharti official, has worked well for cellular operators in New Delhi and is expected to drive sales for Bharti in Mumbai as well. ``The prepaid service is going to be a key strategy,'' he said.

The Delhi circle has more cellular subscribers than Mumbai, despite Mumbai being the commercial and financial centre of the country. As of November 30, 2001, according to statistics provided by the Cellular Operators Association of India, Delhi had 8,30,880 cellular subscribers; Mumbai had 7,92,514.

Cellular operators attribute this to differences in consumer culture between the two cities, the sprawling geographical layout of Delhi region and last but not the least, to the success of their prepaid card.

Although Delhi pre-paid services appear to be more expensive, customers have taken to it very well, says the Bharti official. Cellular operators in Delhi offer talk time worth Rs 337 on a prepaid card of Rs 500; whereas Mumbai private operators offer value of Rs 251 on a prepaid card of Rs 500. The rest goes into access fees and taxes, both of which are higher in Mumbai.

The Delhi airtime charge is Rs 1.5 per 30 seconds and Rs 2.5 per 30 seconds, as against the Mumbai's charge of Rs 1.99 per minute both incoming and outgoing.

But Delhi's pulse rate is 30 seconds, Mumbai's 60 seconds. A person speaking in Mumbai for five seconds more than 60 seconds would be charged for a full minute more rather than for a full 30 seconds more as he would be in Delhi.

``It remains to be seen what the market will be like, but we do not think our entry will start a price war. There are no `rupees' left to be cut,'' said the Bharti official.

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