It has been almost three years since 3G services were rolled out in India. Despite investing billions of dollars in 3G spectrum, operators are yet to see a real boom in services.
Vodafone India, which pumped in Rs 11,600 crore for 3G spectrum in nine circles, continues to believe in the data story. Its Chief Commercial Officer Vivek Mathur gives the reasons behind this optimism and what his company is doing to hook users to smartphones. Edited excerpts:
You need a whole ecosystem around a new technology. 3G requires smartphones, devices of a substantial screen size and relevant content and applications. This ecosystem is still building up in India. So far, we are extremely happy with our 3G offtake and looking at significantly increasing our investments in 3G – in networks, building capacity and expanding footprint. About 10 per cent of our (41 million) data users are on 3G and they brought in half of our total data revenue (during the June quarter). There is exponential growth in 3G, in triple digits. If 3G continues to grow at the rate at which it is growing, it will be a big revenue driver for us.
Are you going to offer bundled handsets with data plans to push for mobile Internet?
We are bundling our data (limited free data with certain handsets), but for us, selling smartphones is not a focus area. We are partnering with handset vendors to let users sample data on handsets. Experience is one of the biggest drivers of data growth. We are trying to build experience. We also want to partner with manufacturers for entry level phones as that is where the growth lies.
Do you remain bullish on the India data story despite the extremely slow growth?
We see a really great 3G story going forward. There is a huge latent demand in smaller towns and the number of feature phone users using data is surprisingly high. The challenge, right now, is the screen size. But these users will most likely upgrade (to smartphones) and the data demand will shoot up once that happens. The growth rates in ‘B’ and ‘C’ circles are in triple digits. Moreover, a robust apps ecosystem for mobiles is building up in India and that is going to be a big facilitator. Increasing availability of content in vernacular will also drive mobile Internet penetration.
What is being done on the retail front to boost data usage?
The big journey for us is to move on from just retail stores to a new consumer reality and experience. So we are putting devices in our outlets to provide 3G experience ahead of any purchase. Called ‘Retail of Tomorrow’ or ‘ROTO’ stores, they allow users to walk-in and experience data, compare phones and upgrade devices. We are also giving the red box facility at our retail outlets, where a user (even a non-Vodafone subscriber) can transfer all data from any handset to a new device.
What about the retail push in rural areas?
To create experience in rural areas, we are working with distributors around providing data interface to customers. We have 6,000 ‘lal dukaans’ (Associated Distributor Vodafone Mini Stores), which were earlier the first touch point for customers. They are now the education point.
One of the big challenges in data is that unlike voice minutes and seconds, data usage in KBPS and MBPS is not easily understood. Our outlets here are not only educating users on all fronts, but also trying to do programmes locally, like engaging with schools on usage of Internet.
What is Vodafone doing to drive apps development?
Apps are a significant area we are working on. We have created a new platform for app developers. Earlier, developers needed to approach us, explain their idea, get approvals and then come on to the system.
We are now creating a plug-and-play, with standard terms and conditions, wherein as long as the content does not violate our terms and conditions, they can directly get on to the system. The open platform will speed up apps creation.