Uninor offers unlimited Facebook, WhatsApp access at Rs. 15 per month
n a bid to boost its subscribers base in
India and target the youth, telecom operator Uninor has launched a new
scheme under which it offers unlimited access to Facebook and WhatsApp
for Rs. 15 per month. Uninor hopes the new scheme will help boost its
data users and revenue in 2014.
The new scheme also marks change in
Uninor's Internet strategy – shifting from volume based Internet
offerings (MB and GB offerings) to service based Internet offerings. “We
are moving out of data and moving in to Internet. Internet is the way
in which customers consume data and our approach will be to make that
usage the cheapest among all operators,” says Morten Karlsen Sorby,
nominated CEO of Uninor.
Uninor's new schemes are branded as the
“Sabse Sasta Facebook” and “Sabse Sasta Whatsapp”. The scheme gives
subscribers unlimited access to these services at one fixed charge for a
period ranging from 1 hour to 1 month.
Take a look at the plans in the graph below:
“These plans are a great way to discover
Facebook and stay connected with friends and family without worrying
about data charges on Uninor.” said Kevin D'souza, Head of Growth and
Mobile Partnerships, Facebook India. “In Uninor, we have a partner that
has the vision and desire to make the Internet affordable and we are
excited to help connect the world with them.”
“Selling Internet as rupees per MB is
like selling air or train tickets as rupees per kilometre. What
customers do with Internet is to use it for services like Facebook or
Whatsapp. Our plan is to make these services the cheapest on Uninor,”
said Sorby. “For us, internet will always be about affordability and
relevance.
Uninor will be rolling out the scheme in
Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa circles by end of this month. Other
circles are expected to follow soon.
Focus on the data market
As most of the telecom operators, Uninor
has turned its attention towards the data segment. The telecom operator
hopes to double its revenue by end of this year. “We have chosen to
move away from the 2G, 3G and 4G discussions and also from the per GB
and per MB model. Our customers use services like Facebook and Whatsapp
and they expect their experience on these to be of good quality at
affordable prices,” said Sorby. “This is a natural extension of our mass
market strategy - best in basic services with the lowest tariffs.”
Technology upgrade
Uninor has kicked off an upgradation of technology and infrastructure to gear up for the expected surge in Internet traffic.
The capacity expansion project includes
enhancement of packet core nodes, creation of dedicated resources only
for these services and enhancing transmission and compression
mechanisms. With these, and other measures, Uninor says its network
infrastructure will be able to support two times the Internet demand
than what it is today.
