Apr 26, 2004 05:52 PM
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(Updated Apr 26, 2004 05:52 PM)
It has been a year or so since I?ve became the so called customer of AirTel. One year it was, is truly one hell of a long time to be chafed, deprived and sometimes juggled to convince myself that I?ve made the right choice. It was my first major attempt to test how tolerable am I, both mentally and economically. In the end,........well! It?s not over yet.....I?m still having my AirTel connection!
Chennai has three major private players; Hutch, Air Cell and AirTel. I don?t know clearly who is the winner here. It has got to be Hutch for its impeccable service and smart schemes or Air Cell for its remarkable tariff plans and attractive promos. But I?m sure its not Air Tel. Or at least, I wish so.
Do I sound like I detest AirTel? Definitely NOT! I?m just a graveled, fickle customer who found AirTel Chennai?s tariff schemes a bit too hostile (read customer unfriendly). Yet, It has a considerable number of desperate and brutally loyal customers. That?s what keeps them ticking...even in this hi-tech and customer-FIRST era.
Air Tel is part of INR 1 billion Bharti TeleVentures founded by Sunil Mittal, which was at the forefront in spawning the communication revolution in India. Its among the very few Indian companies to join the INR 1 billion bandwagon. AirTel has shown a steady growth over the years as it grown from just a regional player in Delhi and Mumbai to a national leader in GSM and made the gradual entry into the WLL telephony segment too.
Launched in 2003, the ?Express Yourself? campaign hasn?t brought as much success to AirTel as the ?Hi? campaign did for Hutch. ?Hi? campaign was a class act from Ogilvy and Mather (not conceived by Piyush Panday as many would think, but by the smart bunch of guys and girls in O&M?s Chennai office) and brought laurels for Hutch in the form of more customers, most of them being from the generation X. It was well supplemented by its eye-catching billboards featuring a young boy and a pup and its jingle(?you and I...?) which has a high degree of selective retention.
No doubt, the campaign has got Hutch exactly what it sought. It wasn?t the case for AirTel?s ?Express Yourself?, which was done by A?mbience. It was actually a plagiarized work, accuse many critics. It was inspired by the enormously successful campaign ran by Hutchison Wamppoa, H.K. in Taiwan or Thailand ( I?m not sure about the exact country). So did AirTel burn their hands there also?
AirTel offers SMS rates of Re 1 for local(within Chennai), Rs 2 for outside Chennai and Rs 3 for ISD. Making and most importantly, receiving calls while roaming have always been an expensive proposition and it is particularly so in AirTel. It has failed miserably to bring in any innovative and beneficial( beneficial to customers!) schemes. The only update it has made, was the any-denomination recharge (starting from Rs 54).....but even that is available with Hutch.
It has tried a lot in bringing novelty in its service by introducing voice mailbox facility( where the caller can record a voice message if the line is busy or if the phone is switched off or when you are not in the network). But look at the inconvenience! Now the caller won?t be able to know whether the user has switched off( that means he/she is in town) or off-network (she?s/he?s away!). Now this might sound a bit too cynical or unfair. But if the facilities provided by other players and the hype and noise created by AirTel about this ?pretty ordinary? service is anything to go by, even this might sound a bit reasonable.
The service can potentially be improved by introducing more customer-friendly tariff plans and useful features. It should seriously start thinking that it lives in a competitive market and the loyalty shown by their customers is not out of delight but desperation. Most of them don?t want to change their connection because they don?t want to change their numbers and hence are ready to endure as earth-like patient customers(Now they are not kings but gods!) and sometimes misconstrued to be fools.
So those who are already there; well folks! Stay put. And as for those who are trading off between AirTel and other alternatives....you know which way to go by now(or which way not to go!)
