KATHMANDU, OCT 18 - 2013
Telecom companies have been going for service bundling schemes in a bid to attract customers and sell their products. Nepal Telecom (NT), Ncell and United Telecom Limited (UTL) have been offering their service by lumping it with different brands of cell phones.
With mobile handsets supporting IP CDMA technology in short supply in the market, NT has been bundling its RUIM cards with Micromax, Alcatel and Lenovo handsets in order to sell mobile lines.
The cell phones cost from Rs 5,500 to Rs 20,500 depending on the brand, model and features. Customers buying this package also get voice and data service worth Rs 200 to Rs 500 free of charge each month as an incentive.
Besides handsets, NT has been bundling its RUIM cards with USB dongles with an eye on data service. The bundling scheme is directed at selling RUIM cards for its Sky Pro service based on IP CDMA technology that supports both data and voice service.
NT’s Deputy Managing Director Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai said that these bundling schemes had helped to increase their customer base when a shortage of IP CDMA technology-based handsets had been hindering growth of this segment. “We are also working to introduce this type of scheme for high-end handsets after a few months,” he added.
Meanwhile, Ncell and UTL in the private sector have also launched bundling schemes under which customers can buy handsets and obtain voice and data services at cheaper rates. Under Ncell’s Ncell Load Festival offer which had been launched targeting Dashain shoppers, customers can acquire a Micromax set loaded with Ncell’s special service packs at low rates.
A senior official at the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) said that such bundling schemes provide services at cheaper rates only within the telecom ’s home network. “The free calls and talk time values are normally applicable only within the home network which is the flip side of these offers,” he added.
For example, Ncell customers buying its service bundle with Micromax handsets will get an Ncell SIM card, 30 minutes of talk time and 30 free SMS within the Ncell network. In addition, customers will get data worth 10 MB, 40 MB and 100 MB free for 12 months, depending on the handset chosen and the monthly balance recharged.
Ncell said that customers could buy a Micromax X 085 handset loaded with Ncell services worth Rs 3,600 for Rs 1,449. Likewise, the Micromax X 267 pack worth Rs 4,451 can be acquired at Rs 2,219, while the Micromax Ninja A54 pack is available at Rs 6,399 compared to its normal price of Rs 9,987.
Similarly, UTL offers two types of service bundling schemes. It provides a fixed wireless phone for Rs 2,400 which comes bundled with talk time worth the same amount. Similarly, a customer buying a ZTE CDMA handset for Rs 1,500 gets talk time worth Rs 3,000, according to UTL.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
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