Thursday, October 3, 2013

Why 2G data plan prices are increasing day by day?

Airtel is soon going to increase its 2G data plans . So one question is always coming in front of me.
why 2G Data tarrif prices are rising day by day ?

Most of the people are blaming 3G for the rise in 2G tariffs but it is not the only factor that has made AVoId and other companies to take tariffs up-to a level where it becomes unusable. I was having a conversation today with my friend who uses WhatsApp, FB, Twitter and some apps that provide voice facility too and works well on 2G also as they need 100-120Kbps only. Then a thing struck my mind that this cheap 2G is eating telcos revenues from Voice as well as SMS which used to be primary source of revenues for cellular operators in India.

Let me explain this to you. Before 2G become cheap we were all dependent on Voice as well as SMS and we used to subscribe to SMS packs, rate cutter for calling etc. Since 2G become and the entry of messaging apps eat the revenues of SMS and then it started eating voice revenues. So operators finally find the pulse behind the problem and started hiking 2G rates. In this way if people stop using 2G packs, they will use the SMS packs and voice also. Otherwise it cheap to talk on WhatsApp or FB as they are free then to call. My friend rarely calls now and use all this. So cheap 2G was sinking operators revenue to a great extent.

I’m not saying that all people use apps but numbers are very much now. So it is the way by operators to push users to Voice as well as SMS packs also which used to be their bread. This problem was faced by many countries and are facing until now and i.e why Mobile Internet prices in other countries are much higher than what it is in India. Though wired Internet is cheap in those countries but I have checked plans on websites of many countries and they are anything between 500-1000 INR for 1-2GB usage. Even a 2GB plan in Pakistan costs 550 PKR.

I give you my own example: Since 2G become cheap, my expenditure which used to be 300/month till 2009 fell to Rs.75-100 only. I started using SMS from web or via chat. Voice calls kept on decreasing and now I rarely spend Rs.30 on calls a month. I may not be 100% right here but these are also factors behind the increase in 2G tariffs. 2G eaten up revenues from Voice and SMS and now higher 2G prices will push users to Voice as well as SMS packs. A day will come when Voice/SMS packs will look cheaper as compared to Data like it used to be before.

Data is the future and can be only source of revenue in next 10 years. So until then companies want to reap from all forms of services.

1 comment: