Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Jan 25, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Jan 25, 2002 |
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Info-Tech
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Telecommunications Marketing - Brands Usha Martin to make emotional appeal Ambar Singh Roy
KOLKATA, Jan. 24 EVEN as the battle for a larger share of the cellular pie in Kolkata hots up - facilitated with the launch of the Airtel brand just about a month ago - cellular service provider Usha Martin Telekom Ltd is banking upon the emotional advantages that accrue to a home-grown or local brand. According to Mr Sanjoy Mukerji, Chief Operating Officer of Usha Martin Telekom Ltd - a Hutchison Telecom joint venture which offers its cellular services under the Command brandname - a multi-pronged strategy has been adopted to take advantage of the emotional bonding people in this city have with local brands. With a cellphone penetration of about 15 per cent vis-a-vis fixed line customers, the market offered huge scope for growth. In Mumbai and Delhi, the cellular penetration was between 32 and 35 per 100 fixed line customers. Mr Mukerji told Business Line during an interface that entry-level costs, value-added services offered by the service provider and awareness of a particular service as a top-of-the-line offering were among the factors which determine the growth of the cellular market. With an existing customer base in excess of 132,000, Command was poised to augment the number of cell sites across its coverage area even as plans to double the switch capacity "from slightly below 200,000 at present'' has been firmed up. Besides, "the brand would continue to remain salient to the values that we stand for and customers' needs.'' In the context of reposing confidence in people's attachment for a local brand, he ruled out plans to replace the Command brand with Hutchison's Orange in the near future. "Kolkatans have strong emotional bondings with home brands''. Stating that Command was fully aware of competition, Mr Mukerji said what would stand the test of time was the "quality of the service delivered and not mere promises of a great future which just creates hype and excitement in the marketplace.''
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