Market for dual sim handsets in India

The telecom major Airtel at last with much hesitation yesterday announced the 1 paise/per second tariff plan to compete against Tata's DOCOMO,Aircel,Reliance,Idea and MTS which have slashed their tariffs in some way or the other. This move was expected as the telecom giant was losing out in terms of new subscriptions to DOCOMO. This will reduce the ARPU(average revenue per user) and will also affect the profits of Bharati Airtel.

The current telecom market is flooded with 13 players and new entrants are pushing aggressively and finding a new proposition to enter the market, the latest being MTS and unitech's telenor soon joining the game. now the question is will consumer still buy a new connection when all the competitors are providing the same service. and what would be the new value proposition the new players will pitch in ? and what would be the industry profits ??

Deepesh is my 17 year old cousin in his high school who uses three connections and has two mobile phones. he is quick to grab any opportunity or scheme available. he uses
Airtel as it has an excellent coverage and this was his first connection.
Aircel as he liked the VAS(value added services).
and latest was DOCOMO for its 1 paise per tariff.

same is the case with Sandeep who has 4 mobile connections and is a P.G student. These days its not a big deal if a person has more than one connection. The consumer is opting two connections due to the marketers effort both the telecom operator who is slashing prices while adding new services and the marketing efforts of handset manufacturers who have brought in new handsets and cut down the prices drastically. due to both these factors the consumer today doesnt mind adding one more number or connection carrying an additional handset.But this implication doesnt apply across all the customers its just relevant to the innovators and the price conscious customer.

Analyzing the current market competition there could be huge demand for Dual sim handsets in India where as there are only few handset manufacturers making dualsim handsets mainly spice,emerging Indian companies like Micromax,karbonn and other chinese players.Now the question is why aren't major players like Nokia,Sony Erickson and LG tapping on this need. ??? when people are willing to own more than one connection.. It's high time for companies to launch dual Sim mobiles to tap this Market where as the Indian handset manufacturers are smart and have understood this trend, firms like Micromax and karbonn are providing dual Sim handsets at a reasonable price of Rs 4000/- targeting the rural market who look for value.

High end companies can launch dual handsets for two markets one is for the aspirational Indian who wants to own a smart phone and is an innovator.The other could be a low end model priced at 5000 having basic features to target the value looking customer.

with TRAI opening up the Market for new entrants the Indian consumer is for sure going to benefit and the day is not far when whole India would be connected for free !!!