From Paying to Get Paid: Indian Telecom Market

Long ago…

When I was in elementary school the telephone was a white elephant. I have seen my mother covered the telephone with clothes. I was not allowed to talk much on the phone. It was used for very short and valuable conversations. Neighboring towns were treated as long distances and they were STD calls. Call to some more distant place was further troublesome. It was a ‘trunk call’. We had to call the telephone exchange and book the line. Trunk calls were very costly and many liked to write letters and telegrams.

What’s now?

Today we have forgotten what a trunk call is.

Not even a neighboring town, the whole state is now local. Leave the inter circle calls the whole India is now at 1 Re distance!

No telegrams now, SMS reaches the remote places where even telegram couldn't reach.

Go again few years back.

Mobile phones were there with rich people staying in big cities. They were paying about Rs 10 for incoming calls. Out going was out of reach.

Zamaana changed in a high speed manner!

Prepaid plans were introduced. Charging for incoming calls became outdated. Call rates came down to earth. SMS were charged a negligible amount. Mobiles became lot more than a communicating instrument. Young couples were allowed to talk at very little amount using couple connections, sometimes even free of cost.

Now!? You can even get paid for receiving calls. Virgin mobile announced it will give Rs 0.1 per 60 seconds for receiving calls.

What next?