On a value-added Loop

Loop Mobile, which owns mobile telephony licences in 21 states, is on an overdrive to launch new value-added services that, it hopes, will increase its revenue market share to around 15 per cent in the next 18 months, from 9 per cent now.

The Essar group-promoted Loop, which has so far launched services in five circles: Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Orissa, has 300,000 consumers in Mumbai, its biggest base.

“We are looking to churn customers with high revenue, and also looking at increasing revenue from existing customers. We plan to do this through new value-added services (VAS), improving Internet access and e-mail access. Our initiatives will make a big difference to consumers,” says Surya Mahadevan, COO, Loop Mobile.

Currently, Loop has average revenue per user of Rs 600 for post-paid and Rs 120 for pre-paid connections.

Mahadevan is walking the talk.

Last month, Loop introduced a new SMS scheme called ‘Reply All’. This application will allow consumers to send SMSes to up to seven people at the cost of one SMS. If one of the consumers in the group replies, the response will be sent to all the users, allowing a chat conversation in a group, giving the same utility as a reply-all e-mail. Around 40,000 consumers have used the application and 2.4 million SMSes have been sent, with an average of 7-8 SMSes per conversation.

This is the first time that any mobile phone company has launched such a service.

The operator is also introducing a new tariff concept called ‘smart paid’. Targeted at the top-end of the market, these pre-paid recharges will offer more minutes to the consumer with larger recharges. The recharge will come bundled with a combination of SMS, Internet download and calling minutes. The recharge will also have voice mail services and missed call alerts.

“We are looking to attract new consumers from other operators to this scheme. We hope post-paid customers would find this attractive as well, because here, they get to choose the denomination like in a pre-paid connection and will get a high usage value like in a post-paid connection,” says Mahadevan.

Loop is also planning to come up with a recharge coupon for post-paid connections. This is aimed at consumers who stay away from billing centers and those whose usage breaches monthly usage limits regularly. Consumers can now look at paying parts of their bill in the form of pre-paid connections which are available at various retail outlets. The company is currently in discussions with retailers over margins of this scheme, and plans to launch it soon.

The telecom operator is also in the midst of a network upgrade where it is improving its network coverage in connectivity, call quality etc. It is adding new cell sites to expand its network, and replacing its old network equipment. “We are doing independent research and we hope to become the best network in Mumbai,” says Mahadevan.