Rural areas: New emerging focal points for telcos

The battle for supremacy among telecom operators has moved beyond tariff wars and has shifted to rural hinterland. With phone penetration in rural areas at only 8 per cent of the population, the rural consumer has now become the target area for telecom operators.

Bharti Airtel, this week, launched a joint venture with Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative limited (IFFCO). The company is clear that this initiative will give it the leverage to reach the rural consumer.

On May 2, both partners launched their joint venture company, IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL), through which Bharti will have access to IFFCO's 55 million members covering 98 per cent of the country's villages.

The tariff rates, while competitive, may not be the cheapest with call rates fixed at 50 paise per minute for calls between IFFCO members.

"We have not claimed to give the cheapest tariff offers, we had already slashed our prices across the board recently and this initiative will provide us with connectivity to the rural areas," said Sanjay Kapoor, president-mobile business, Bharti Airtel.

Reliance Communication has also targeted the rural segment in a big way with its low tariff initiative like the Grameen Programme. The company has introduced its