Vernacular SMS from BPL Mobile

Chennai: BPL Mobile Cellulars merger with the Birla, AT&T and Tata combine (Batata) is progressing at a steady pace, says BPL Mobile deputy CEO Subir Ghosh.

BPL Mobile had announced its decision to merge with Batata some months ago. It was also announced that a common brand will be developed in order to cut the promotional spend on three different brands. But Ghosh refused to give further details on the merger status.

A part of the Rs 4, 500-crore BPL group, the company operates cellular services in Tamil Nadu (except Chennai), Maharashtra (Mumbai excluded), Pondicherry, Kerala and Goa. Another company, BPL Mobile Communications, operates in Mumbai. Both put together, it has ramped up a subscriber-base of around 8 lakh.

In the meantime, in order to cash on the increasing popularity of the short messaging service (SMS), BPL Mobile introduced the service in three Indian languages - Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. Early next year, services in Konkani and Marathi languages will be added.

The vernacular messaging facility is brought about by using the coded picture messaging technology (CPMT) and the software was developed in-house, says Ghosh. The technology involves a set of pre-configured messages in the local language stored as images on the unique software.

Specific codes have been given for accessing pre-configured messages by keying them on the mobile keypad. Messages can also be sent directly by keying in the code followed by the recipients mobile number. A list of messages with their accompanying codes will be given to all the subscribers in the form of a pocket diary.

On the SMS market, BPL Mobile head (products and services) Ajay Awasthi says: In India, around half a million messages are conveyed using SMS, and the trend is growing at the monthly rate of 10 per cent. According to him in Tamil Nadu alone, around 1 lakh messages are conveyed through SMS. Tamil Nadu subscribers score the highest in average talk-time, clocking 500 minutes per annum.

The introduction of 0.50 paise per message in vernacular languages is expected to increase manifold SMS usage and adding to the companys undisclosed turnover.

Following this, BPL Mobile will introduce prepaid charge cards for shopping and roaming-call facility apart from e-greetings services. In addition, we are also planning to offer customised information to our subscribers that will help them in their trade, says Awasthi. The customised information will be market prices for commodity traders or weather or market price trends for fishing folks. Cell phones are popular among Kerala fishermen.

Speaking about the market trends, Awasthi says the cellular market is now clearly polarised into two segments. The business community that uses post-paid services and the middle-class that uses the pre-paid facility.

While the post-paid customers provide a major part of the companys revenues, the pre-paid subscribers provide the volume. The prepaid segment is growing fast. In Kerala, 75 per cent of the companys subscriber-base consists of prepaid users, while in Tamil Nadu it is 65 per cent, he says.