Mobile telephony made more accessible

Mobile phone facilities could soon become available at grocery stores, PCO booths, stationery shops and electrical agencies. "Recharging coupons will be made widely available so that the mobile phone customer will find it easy to use the mobile phone facility," said BPL Mobile (Maharashtra and Goa) COO, Samuel Selvakumar.

BPL Mobile launched its latest offering, the MOTS Rs 999 rechargeable card for Maharashtra and Goa, on February 4. The facility has already been made available at Mumbai for some time now. MOTS-999 allows local calling facility, talk time of Rs 600, talk time validity of 30 days, differential rates for outgoing and incoming calls at Rs 9 and Rs 3 respectively, and mobile number retention facility for 30 days .

The new offering is intended to spread the culture of mobile telephony and make it more accessible and affordable to newer customers, especially youth, housewives, professionals, people awaiting land-line connections, and to serve as an added facility for executives in transit. "The strategy for expanding our markets will focus on newer segments including students, young professionals, new entrants into the city and transient population, emergency services and for medical and health services," said Selvakumar.

BPL will continue with its strategy of growing in clusters, rather than opt for physical end-to-end expansion. Thus industrial estates, trade and commerce centres would be target markets. "We will focus on maximum optimised coverage for our customers, which goes beyond municipal limits," said Selvakumar

This strategy is expected to help the company double its reach in Maharashtra and Goa, where the number of retail outlets would rise from the current 850 to 2000.