Apr 22, 2004 04:33 PM
3227 Views
(Updated Apr 22, 2004 04:33 PM)
Spice, a single-circle service provider in Karnataka, has been offering a reliable GSM cell phone service in Karnataka. By far their most popular offering was Spice Youth, which notwithstanding the name was open to all age groups. It offered an affordable plan for moderate users like children and housewives.
At a low cost of Rs 50 (recently reduced to Rs 30) per month to stay connected, it had the added attractions of indefinite validity for prepaid currency and the facility of designating any three numbers (under Friends and Family plan), which could be called at a concessional rate with no plan charge.
I was so happy with Spice - my wife has one - that I had planned to shift my teenaged daughter from TATA Indicom (CDMA) to Spice Youth. To my surprise I discovered that, in line with other operators, Spice had decided to fix a validity period for currency. The validity period (120 days for Rs 1000) pre-supposes a minimum expenditure of Rs 250 per month, not to mention plan charge of Rs 30 per month.
I no longer find Spice Youth competitive for moderate users, espcially when one considers that outgoing call rates (at Rs 3 per minute with a pulse rate of 60 seconds) are high. I expect that many Spice Youth users will agree with me. I expect to see a mass exodus from Spice Youth to other service providers, GSM and CDMA. Wonder if the company anticipated this!
