Indian mobile operator Videocon Telecom has introduced an offer for prepaid mobile customers in Punjab, offering unlimited data access on all data packs. The unlimited data offer will be available for all prepay data packs with prices ranging between INR 9.00 (US $0.13) and INR 251.00 (US $3.68). For INR 9 pack users, Videocon will offer unlimited data to its customers for two days, instead of the earlier benefit of 150 MB for two days. Customers using data packs of INR 58 (US $0.85) will receive unlimited data for eight days, compared to the earlier benefit of 700 MB for seven days. Users of data packs of INR 198 (US $2.90) will now have access to unlimited data for 40 days against the earlier benefit of 4 GB for 28 days.

Tarifica’s Take

Here we have another example, albeit from a market quite different from Italy’s, of how the benefits of generous promotions in the prepaid sector outweigh the immediate impact on the operator’s bottom line. Here the promotion is in the form of free data rather than price cuts. Videocon states that it expects revenues to stagnate due to the unlimited-data offer. However, it also expects a 20 percent increase in the number of its unique data users and a 45 percent increase in data consumption in the next three months, and for data consumption per user per month to rise by 25 percent. If these figures are anywhere near accurate, the data giveaway will have been well worth it.