Your Guide to Choosing a Cell Phone Service Provider in India

chillibreeze writer — Gopinatha Rao Yareeda

The cell phone industry in India has transitioned from offering mere voice connectivity to providing value added services such as MMS, and internet connectivity with phone types ranging from normal cell phones to the ones having PDA features. Faced with such a wide range of options, customers are finding it increasingly difficult to choose the right service provider.

Once the customer opts for a cell phone service, the cell phone number becomes his identity. This is the reason why changing the service provider at a later point of time becomes impractical.

Therefore, it is imperative for the prospective customer to evaluate service providers before he selects any of them. The aim of this article is to help customers rate cell phone operators on a set of general criteria, which will help in the selection process.

Let us look at the cell phone giants, most of whom operate nationwide -- Airtel, BSNL’s CellOne, Hutch, Idea, Reliance and Tata Indicom.

We shall consider the following criteria to evaluate the various service providers:

Network coverage

Quality of service

Customer service/satisfaction

Calling plans

Schemes and offers

Recoverability

Value added services

Some of these operators offer CDMA based services, while most others offer GSM based services.

Some of these operators have a greater advantage over the others in terms of the target customers, the penetration and the brand image. Operators such as Airtel and Reliance have built up a powerful brand image in their respective segments (GSM and CDMA). They have also evolved over time and integrated with other institutions such as banks, TV channels, etc. For example, a subscriber to Reliance mobile service maintains his savings account with ICICI Bank. Once he updates his phone details on the bank’s web site, or informs the bank about this update, the bank stores this information. When a transaction takes place against the customer’s account, the bank immediately sends an SMS to the customer’s cell phone, informing him of the transaction.

Big brands have been built when operators have tied up with various TV channels and encouraged the participation of their subscribers in successful shows such as Star Plus’s Kaun Banega Crorepati.

In this way, cell phone service providers have been devising income generation strategies with very low turn around time.

What’s more, they offer various kinds of ring tone services, dialer tone services, data (internet), and other services to keep their stock prices soaring in the markets.

The table below shows how these cell phone service providers rate under the general criteria.

Feature\Service Provider ►

▼

Airtel
BSNL CellOne
Hutch
Idea
Reliance
Tata Indicom

Network coverage
4 (Good city coverage)
4.0 (Good rural coverage)
3
3.5
4.5 (Good rural as well as city coverage)
3.5

Customer Service/Satisfaction
3.5
3.5
3
3
3.5
3.5

Calling Plans
4
4
3.5
3.5
4
4

Schemes and Offers
4
3
3
3
4
3.5

Recoverability
4
4
3.5
3.5
4
3.5

Value Added Services
4.5
3.5
4
4
4
3.5

Online support (Web based)
4
3.5
4
4
3.5
3.5

Public acceptance
4.5 (Employees & IT people)
3
3.5
4
4.5 (Business segment)
3

Brand building
4.5
3.5
4
4
4
3.5

Total scores:
37
28
31.5
32.5
36
31.5

As the table above depicts, Airtel is the overall winner, while Reliance Infocomm is the winner in the CDMA segment.

Information is power, and armed with these facts and figures, customers in India will find it much easier to choose the perfect cell phone service provider!

Note: The facts and figures presented in this article are based on the experience of the author. These are not compiled from any source. Any similarity with already published content is merely coincidental.

 

Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article.

Out of 5 “chilies”, our editorial team gave this article...

---

—About our writer: Gopinatha writes for chillibreeze.

 

 

 

>> Read more articles written by Chillibreeze writers:

1. Articles related to Content and Outsourcing
2. NRI and Expat Articles
3. Potpourri
4. Travel Writing
5. Book Reviews and Interviews

More resources for Writers on Chillibreeze.com Chillibreeze offers Indian writers the opportunity to work on customer projects. We are also India’s biggest writer network and a one-stop shop for Indian writers and editors. The writers’ section on Chillibreeze offers freelance writers and editors a variety of tools to advance their careers. Resources for writers include: Assessment of your writing, editing and proofreading skills Writing courses Expert Feedback on your article An opportunity to promote yourself on our website Top websites for Indian writers Tips and resources for Indian freelancers Book Publishing services And more……………….. Explore our writers’ section using the links on our left-hand side menu.