Users connect better with prepaid

11 Feb, 2009, 1730 hrs IST,TNN

NEW DELHI: Call it the death of post-paid mobile connection in the world’s fastest-growing mobile market. India has all but completely rejected the post-paid option, with nearly 99% of all new mobile user additions in the country accounted for by prepaid connections.

With mobile operators increasingly doling out cut-price offers for newer, often poorer users, customers are also embracing this platform with gusto.

Consider this: Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile company by users, added a record 8.1 million-plus customers during the October-December 2008 quarter, of which 99.6% were prepaid users. Ditto for Reliance Communications, Vodafone Essar and Tata Teleservices. About 99.9% of RCOM’s 5.5 additions during the quarter went in for a prepaid connection while for Vodafone Essar and Tata Teleservices, the numbers were 97.3% and 96%, respectively. “Fundamentally, the Indian consumer prefers prepaid as it empowers them. The customer wants to control how and when to spend and sees real value on a call-by-call basis in prepaid,” said Bharti Airtel chief marketing officer Sanjay Gupta.

The switch towards prepaid from postpaid or contract connections has been steadily climbing. From accounting for about 60% of the country’s total subscriber base in 2005, prepaid users now constitute over 92% of India’s 360 million mobile customer base. Bharti’s numbers for October-December 2007 quarter show that a little over 95% of additions then preferred prepaid connections.