I swear (on GOD), that I can just about manage to run a Company, keep investors happy, drive cars on both sides of roads and even identify a western classical musical piece, but I just cannot understand my mobile bill.
Consider this simple chart:
In Mumbai (Maharashtra), if you want to get a post-paid connection, these are some of the options: (haven’t considered some of the latest entrants):
|
Operator |
No of schemes | Total Items on the ‘Confusion Menu’ |
| Tata Indicom | 11 | 11 |
| Airtel | 19 | 30 |
| Vodafone | 13 | 43 |
| Reliance | 16 | 59 |
| BSNL | 8 | 67 |
| Idea | 9 | 76 |
| Aircel | 8 | 84 |
| MTNL | 15 | 99 |
| Reliance GSM | 11 | 110 |
| Tata Docomo | 6 | 116 |
So, lets assume that you go to a gas station driving your car, harried, late for a meeting and ask the pump attendant to ‘fill her up’. ‘Sure!’ he says and gives 116 options to choose from (what I call the item on the confusion menu in the table above). ‘Sir!’ he says, please tell me if you want ‘ super 149 or saver 99 or gold 599 or Lifetime of …… (brand names of the 116 choices)’
Depending on how your day has gone, you will either:
- Shut the car, walk out, thank God for the sunshine and hail a cab. Hell to the world… and cars and 116 types of gas choices…
- Blow your fuse and create some healthy blood pressure for yourself… hell, we have to die some day anyway..
- Tell him ‘Boss!’ – Fill in whatever you want – I have to quit in 5 minutes’
- Be a moron and say “Acha (ok), let me ‘study’ the plans”. So you park your car on the side, take the 116 print outs of the options and then spend 8 hours studying what you need to buy… (Remember you are a moron).
Telecom Companies BET that you are the Choice 3 person ( Charge what you have to but get on with it types) and that’s how they thrive!
Why creating confusion is the best way for profit maximization:
Have you studied your mobile bill carefully? Can you really claim that you know EXACTLY what is being charged for what? The different ‘schemes’ of sms, Internet gprs, talk time, roaming local, roaming international blah blue blee…?
Creating unpronounceable and incomprehensible cost plans make you weak – they make you drop your guard and say the golden words ‘whatever’.
How this works:
- By creating massive confusion on the pricing, telecom companies take your attention to the easiest thing you can understand – your ‘budget’ or monthly commitment to your mobile bill. Let’s say you make up your mind to spend Rs 1000 (US$ 20) per month on your bill.
- Immediately, you have stopped paying attention to what you will GET by paying this amount – rather you will have already committed on what you will GIVE someone.
- When sharks-like Telcos get you in that mindset, they create myriad and bloody awful pricing plans that GIVE you the LEAST and GET them the MOST.
- Interestingly, they measure their quarterly performance in monthly ARPU ( Average revenue per User) – how much they make you pay per month!
- As you trudge along, a stray colleague or friend will give you a ‘tip’ on how to get the best ‘scheme’ or mobile plan. You secretly call the operator up, make a few changes and feel satisfied. You just fooled yourself all over again.
The SOLUTION
- The TRAI (telecom regulator authority of India) has to allow folks to flip operators but not their mobile numbers ASAP. This is called Mobile portability and means that you are no longer forced to stick to one Operator for the rest of your life since he sold you a mobile number! Its like signing up to fill petrol from the same gas station for the entire period you own a car!!
- Once this happens, a simple MARKET of ‘Mobile Minutes’ and ‘Mobile SMS’ needs to evolve – almost like buying Gold or Silver from Banks or from commodity exchanges. In a country where 400-500 million people consume a daily requirement (talktime and sms) this is hygiene!
- So, if I want to buy 300 minutes – look up the ‘best rate’ at that time (and so 100+ operators can compete basis what minutes they can offer and at what rate) and you snap it up. Same for SMS. It’s just like saying – I want to buy 100 shares of a company – look up BSE/NSE and buy it there and then. Add to this, consumers should also be able to SELL unused minutes at their price choices – truly making this a highly LIQUID market.
Confusion has always been the creator of ill amassed wealth and profits. Information is the enemy of confusion and brings order, competition and massive efficiency.
The same applies to the Indian Telecom industry. The players need to quit confusing 500 million consumers and deliver the truthful value to them.
Send me your experiences as a comment and contribute to this piece!
You may also like my blog ‘Alok’s driver plays obscene film songs on his mobile and why Alok pays for it‘
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You may like http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html how more options make us more unhappy …
My take on it:
- You can’t avoid having more options, only few companies understand that constuctive desctruction is a way to go … the famous Google Vs Yahoo debate …
- The only option is Technology … why Google is king, they simplified something that was too complicated, did I shell out an idea that I am working on …
- There will emerge new jobs …. like we have financial portfolio management
More options will keep coming in. The companies need to know on how to optimize it, else they will be confusing their customer to dissatisfaction.
Hey to top it all they are charging for customer service. Who the hell does that these days? That is a sad way to push ARPU…I feel for your my friend…
Hi ! Alok
This one ( like many others got me laughing
))
Ya, we are all victims of the skewed mobile plans. And the way these cos. go abt putting up huge billboards/print ads claiming cheaper billing ( and a * with the tiny rider below ) really confuses. And then when one’s travelling frequently across the country its an even greater nightmare.
For God’s sake its high time TRAI flogs the telcos and makes a uniform tarriff plan reality. As such most operators have come around to the 1 paise per sec reality, thanx to the price war and new operators. Sometimes its even lower than that.
According to me there shud be 2 plans – a) a pay per second plan ( doesnt matter if its more than 1 ps per sec so that telcos make some money and end this useless war OR pay a fixed sum monthly and get unlimited calls b ) a single number and tarriff plan across the country per telco
And if GOI wants to make some more money to shorten its budget deficit why not open up the VOip space more ?
Tell u some of the most bugging things as per me :
1. The customer support which takes endless recorded sessions be4 one can reach the desired option
2. The DND service which the CSE says will be activated in 15 days …why 15 days ? ( in some cases like Tata Indicom wireless I’ve been trying for 6 months now )
3. The “thank you & have a nice day” routine by CSE’s with a moronic tone …by this time one wants to give a slap actually.I wonder who can have a nice day after going thru a harrowing customer support call which sometimes takes more time than calling a stubborn client !!
4. The VAS schemes msgs which endlessly buzz in thru the day and confuse further !! The timing is precise..just when one’s expecting an imp call or in a meeting.
And if one has a budget and wants a new scheme for someone then its a virtual research spanning several days as u rightly put it.
The trials and travails of Indian mobile users. alas !
your prayers are answered… had thought of this as an idea for a telecom client..then a friend who is a big shot in the space kindly pointed me to this tool he has created..
http://www.yourbillbuddy.com/welcome.do
does this answer your questions ?
Cheers !!
billbuddy.com is a great service – but they cannot help when Telcos change prices and manipulate rates…in essence, Mobile Minutes and SMS units have to become tradeable commodities…. then an exchange helps buy and sell
The world needs a UNL, akin to how it’s easier to remember rodinhood than 74.200.243.253. I just have to remember the name, and someone gets me the number.
With proliferation of internet mobile apps and trust-enablers like FBConnect, this may not be too far away.
It doesn’t “solve” the problem of confusion caused by marketing, which extends to even purchasing a TV set!
Hi Alok, just discovered your blog and cant stop reading. Number Portability is going to kill telcos like Airtel and Reliance who have constantly ignored service quality, and gone fishing for mass numbers. Currently the biggest problem for drivers and plumbers is that everytime they change plans, they stand to lose enquiries. But imagine when NUmber Portability hits home, how “mass players” like Airtel are gonna bleed.
I agree with the following points:
1. Telecom operator schemes are confusing
2. Number Portability is important
But the flaw in your argument is that you imply that solving problem 2 above is a solution for problem 1 too.
You begin by saying that
“say “Acha (ok), let me ‘study’ the plans”. So you park your car on the side, take the 116 print outs of the options and then spend 8 hours studying what you need to buy… (Remember you are a moron).”
and then later claim that number portability will help in
“if I want to buy 300 minutes – look up the ‘best rate’ at that time (and so 100+ operators can compete basis what minutes they can offer and at what rate) and you snap it up”
See the inherent contradiction? With more operators, you still will go crazy choosing the “best rate” from 100+ operators unless you are a complete moron and will “study the plans”
Nope – if you read ‘how’ you buy the minutes – you will understand. I proposed a free ‘market’ for mobile minutes – so you can buy an Apple Stock for over 200 global stock markets. The more the operators, the more the competition to sell minutes which work in any connection (thanks to portability). So buy talk minutes, sms shots and data minutes off the Internet for your mobile phone.
Sir jee,
Once again bang on target. I liked the title.. ho you think of such nice title for you posts:)