Paging: Awaiting the Beep

There was no respite from bad news on the paging front for yet another year

in succession. BPL’s exit from paging, at the beginning of the year, was an

indicator of the shape of things to come. Usha Martin Telecom’s license was

terminated because of non-payment of license fee. The overall subscriber base

came down to 5,55,597 from 5,68,020 in 1999-2000, thus showing a negative

growth. DSS and RPG Paging had the distinction of being among the companies to

have actually earned a profit during the FY 2000-01. Total market for paging

services stood at Rs 211 crore during the FY 2000-01.

The Alternatives

Realizing the desperate need for an alternative revenue stream, most of the

paging companies rushed to corner a pie of the untapped domestic call center

market. Not many, except EasyCall and DSS, did well on the domestic call center

front. RPG Paging also made an attempt to position itself in business process

solutions beyond just messaging through wireless medium to corporate

organizations. Microwave Communication set up its first international call

center in Mumbai. DSS Mobile, with Rs 200 crore of investment, launched its

Mobilink communications channel for various advertisers to promote their

products.

The Failures

The Indian Paging Services Association, unlike its counterparts COAI and ABTO,

never really commanded the support of the entire industry and thereby failed to

push forward its demands to the government in an aggressive manner. Lack of

adequate marketing of services by most companies, was also instrumental in

paging not making much headway. With most cellular companies slashing their

tariff to a record level, interest in paging continues to be on the wane. The

hype and glamour associated with it at the time of launch is no more there.

Moreover, there is also a question mark on the utility of pager.

Two-way paging,

which could be attractive, is still far-off, as companies do not want to sink

more money in the infrastructure.

The Hope

Companies are hoping that the government will come out with a package and

write-off all their dues. Bailout package from the government, revenue-share

from the basic operators, and the still-further relaxation of duty on pagers,

are some ways. The CVD of 16 percent does not make any sense as there is no

manufacturing of pagers in India and all are imported. The paging rental is as

high as Rs 300, thereby reducing the gap with the cellular cash card, making

paging all the more less attractive for the consumers. To make one-way paging

viable, the rental has to go down further to a level of Rs 100. It is hoped that

the discussion between paging companies and basic service providers, which is

under way, comes through, and the issue of revenue sharing on the call to pager

is resolved.