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Sir Richard just called to say he loves the Indian consumer…
By Ankur Sharma | March 6, 2008
England’s favorite son, Sir Richard Branson is at it again - cracking a different kind of nut, proverbially of course! Sir Branson recently announced the launch of Virgin Mobile, in the not-so-virgin Telco domain in collaboration with Tata Teleservices. Under the agreement, Tata Teleservices will sell mobile services specifically for the youth, which is understandable knowing the very youthful attitude of its owner.
We are not aware of how Sir Branson fared in his Marketing 101 class, but he gets a perfect score from me. His recent announcement to venture into the Indian domain had major Telco providers sweating on a cool Sunday morning. However, his decision of NOT entering the Indian space as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) made them heave a sigh of relief, although the task cut out for them has not become any less formidable.
Branson has announced that for every 60 second call received, a subscriber would get 10 paise. Now I may be wrong, but I think Telemarketers are going to have a field day on this one. After they got the stick from the government regarding DNC, this announcement may just load the dice in their favor. After all, who hates making 10 paise by just speaking to a rep for 60 seconds. Just imagine, if you get enough incoming calls, you may not have to buy any credit at all! Now I could get used to that kind of world for sure. No phone bills to worry about, if I am running low on credit, just pick up my office phone and make a call to my handset, and Voila! Atleast I didn’t waste 2 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back doing nothing - I actually made some money which I can use telling my new best friend about the girl I met last night at the movies! (Well that’s again a waste of time but then life’s a vicious cycle, ain’t it?)
So now Telemarketers atleast get to tell the prospect about a product - nothing to lose for both parties. Do I hear applause ???
Apprently, Virgin has launched 10 different “telecom industry firsts” - Apt promotional phrase for a company that is called VIRGIN, maybe they could use Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” as their theme song too, although it would do more damage than good me thinks - which they claim could significantly boost their presence, like one touch VAS (which is NOT an industry first), etc. The details of the plans can be found here .
Branson has done his homework right. He says, “The estimated population in India of people between 15 and 30 years is 400 million, almost six times the whole of the UK population; and these numbers promise to be a lot of fun,” so subscriber base is not an issue. Infact it only gets better from here. According to Mr Jamie Heywood, Deputy CEO, Virgin Mobile India, said there were 215 million Indians aged 14-25 and over the next three years there would be 50 million additionally. In all, revenues from this segment then would be over Rs 35,000 crore. Now these are astonishing numbers, and it vindicates Sir Branson’s decision to enter an industry plagues by Telco wars, and spectrum allocation hullabaloo.
If he plays his cards right, he’s looking at a great opportunity for Virgin to make some serious moolah. Although, whether his decision to go with marketing schemes propel the already healthy Virgin Corp to unattainable heights remains to be seen. But then everything Sir Branson touches turns to gold anyway.
So don’t ignore the next call you get. And keep a tab on the time - let them credits add up, so you can tell you galpal about the latest number you purchased from Ebony. Happy calling…
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Topics: Industry News, Telcos |