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Athlete Ashwini Nachappa receiving a Spice Disha cellular connection from Mr Sean C. Dexter, Managing Director, Spice Telecom, Karnataka Circle, (left) and Mr Jacob Perez, General Manager, Sales, in Bangalore on Wednesday.

BANGALORE, Aug 14

IN the telecom sector, competition is hotting up. After saying hello to the youth, Spice Telecom is now targeting the woman of Bangalore with the launch of its new product `Spice Disha'.

According to Mr Sean C. Dexter, Managing Director, Spice Telecom, Karnataka Circle, "about 10 per cent of the mobile phone users are women. And the cellular market offers no product exclusively for women and therefore we want to fill this void with Disha. It is also the world's first cellular product exclusively for women."

The subscription for Disha can be through both, prepayment and post-paid tariff platforms. For existing subscribers, Disha is available at a membership fee of Rs 49 per month. In addition, there is an option available for the member to avail of free airtime on both incoming and outgoing calls to any one number of her choice at a rate of Rs 50 per month. At present, regular subscribers are charged Rs 125 per month for this option.

But what Spice is betting on to make Disha attractive to women is the offer of `mobile-phone based services' where services such as plumbing, carpentry, electrical work, home delivery of food, grocery and medicines, repair of vehicles and home appliances and utility bill payments will be made available to its subscribers. These services can be had by dialling 6650. And the services come with a 25 per cent discount on their regular charges.

Members of the Disha Club are also entitled to a loyalty programme with exclusive features such as discounts at leading stores and restaurants.

Currently, Spice Telecom has 20,000 women subscribers in Karnataka and according Mr Dexter, "With the Disha launch, we hope to increase this number to 40,000 in six months' time.''

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