Cellular firms keen to expand post-paid base

The cellular market in the state is in a churning mode. Predominantly a pre-paid market, GSM cellular companies are making a concerted effort to expand their post-paid subscriber base.

Greater revenues from post-paid customers are said to be prime reason why cellular firms are concentrating more on the segment. Also the number of post-paid customers shifting from one cellular operator to another is much less.

The average ratio of pre-paid subscribers to post-paid subscribers in the state stands at about 70:30.

To expand the post-paid base, companies are allowing pre-paid customers to convert to post-paid schemes. However, apart from Idea Cellular, currently no other GSM operators allow subscribers to migrate to post-paid schemes while retaining the number.

Hutch, with the largest subscriber base in the state, has already launched a scheme to convert pre-paid schemes to post-paid schemes.

Though Hutch officials were not available for comment, some of the Hutch pre-paid customers contacted by Business Standard said that they had received calls from Hutch executives asking for their willingness to convert to post-paid.

Sources close to Hutch said that the operator is expected to launch a scheme, where customers can switch from post-paid to pre-paid while retaining the same number.

Idea Cellular, the lone operator in the state offering the conversion scheme, is quite upbeat over the facility offered.

"We are giving the customer an option to choose from the segment that he likes. Often, a customers chooses either a pre-paid or a post-paid connection, but changes his mind later depending on his actual usage. The migration facility makes a customer feel comfortable," said, Subbaraman Iyer, head, Gujarat circle, of Idea Cellular.

"If the facility is not allowed a customer would feel cheated," he said.

Atul Joshi, chief operating officer, Airtel Gujarat circle, said that Bharti Cellular does not indulge in forced conversion of its subscribers from the pre-paid to post-paid category.

"There are consumers who wish to switch over to the post-paid category and we do that, but there are no forced conversions."

"In either case, the good old days are gone, when there was a huge difference between tariff levels of the prepaid and postpaid categories," Joshi added.

He added that both categories have their own advantages. While pre-paid is more affordable when the usage is low, post-paid is always preferable when the usage is high.

Officials of BSNL here stated that as a policy, BSNL does not allow customers to shift from the post-paid segment to the pre-paid segment while retaining the same number, while the reverse is allowed.

"However, as a special case, we have announced that customers who got post paid connections in the six month period when pre paid connections were not available, can shift to the pre-paid segment," said a BSNL official.