The Hindu Business Line : Missed calls and missing revenue

Mobile telephony service providers could consider charging the subscriber a nominal amount for a missed call after fixing a certain monthly slab of free missed calls. This amount should be considerably less than call rates or SMS charges. This would not only reduce indiscriminate use of missed calls but would also turn it into a revenue stream. The monthly slab on free missed calls can also serve as a selling plank. As missed calls made during the peak hours create the maximum load on the network, they can be charged at a higher rate.

However, a missed call may happen either due to the user deliberately cancelling the call or due to network problems. The service providers should be able to differentiate between the two and charge only for user-initiated missed calls. Perhaps as a commitment to provide superior service, the cell operator could redeem free missed calls for every call cancelled due to network congestion.

These initiatives require investments in technology and upgrading the billing systems. The service provider can perform a cost-benefit analysis by comparing the additional investments required and the incremental revenues expected and should go for it only if it makes business sense.

P. H. Karthik, Mumbai

Missed calls are mainly due to technological failure. The following suggestions can help enhance the flow of revenues for the telecom operators:

The telecom company should maintain properly the cable circuit mechanism in the satellite.

The company could make installation of message box compulsory so that if the user is busy, the messages will automatically be recorded; this arrangement is only optional now.

It may be ensured that calls are registered even when the buttons are pressed and the process not completed.

The COAI (Cellular Operators' Association of India) team should make an in-depth study and suggest ways to plug the loopholes. This will help the telecom players mop up more revenues.

T. S. Sundareswaran, New Delhi

The observation of the COAI that missed calls result in revenue loss is not well founded. If the `missed call' option is removed or charged, then, teenagers, who are one of the major users, will find their mobiles less useful and may stop using them. This will obviously reduce the revenues of cell phone operators. The missed call option is a boon to the mobile users, especially when they have no balance in their account. Since the missed call utility is seen as money saver for the users and used in many ways to communicate a pre-understood message, the cellular operators must find some other way to ease the congestion during the peak hours. If the missed call facility is withdrawn altogether, then SMS must be made absolutely free.

S. Nallasivan, Tirunelveli

It is true teenagers have evolved some popular codes using missed calls to communicate among themselves without being charged. Naturally `missed call ends in missed revenue'.

The COAI study should bring out some estimates of the revenue loss. But pulling out schemes is not the answer. If the youth have found an ingenious method to avoid being charged, it is for the industry to find a better method to prevent misuse and loss of revenue.

A. Jacob Sahayam, Thiruvananthapuram

Responses to Sticklish Issues dated January 29.

Unlike the previous years, this year saw a number of business and industry tycoons bag the Padma awards. Generally the list comprises eminent persons in the fields of art, literature, public affairs, medicine and the like. Including those belonging to the corporate world shows the Government's desire to appreciate and recognise the contributions of those who excel in business.

If the country is to keep abreast with the rest of the world, Indian business has to grow in tandem with businesses in other nations.

Thus, conferring Padma awards to successful businesspersons and industrialists will give them a boost and prompt them to excel further. It will also be an encouragement for others, that their hard work and efforts to improve the economy will be suitably rewarded.

S. Nallasivan, Tirunelveli

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