MUMBAI: For most people, the caller ring back tone is gasping for breath. But in India, it seems to be still having some life left in it. Telecom operators say that it still forms a major part of its VAS revenues, just trailing behind SMS revenues.
Speaking with Radioandmusic.com, Aircel west cluster regional business head Dr Harish Sharma said, “CRBT says a lot about the consumer's attitude, it depicts their personality. For us, CRBT is doing very well and nationally it is 15-20 per cent of the revenue. SMS still rules with 30-40 per cent revenue. SMS tops the revenue, and then there is CRBT, which is followed by data.”
He further added, “VAS revenue for an operator will vary from 9-13 per cent depending on the circle of the operator. For Aircel, Maharashtra and Rajasthan that comes in the west region, revenue varies from 18- 21 per cent. We are double industry norms. It is because when we were born as a national Indian operator, we started our campaign for our data services through a product called pocket internet.”
He stated that not many consumers have a liking for CRBT as it is highly priced. “Aircel has a CRBT product where charges are not levied for downloads; rather we charge a monthly rental unlike other operators which charge for every downloaded CRBT.”
Aircel also permits frequent changes of the tones by consumers.
Speaking about CRBT's prosepcts, Sharma said, “CRBT will grow in penetration because the average for the industry is 20-25 per cent. It will lead to higher penetration. It can be because of free availability or low price. One can never say by how much, but it will definitely grow. Music is loved by everyone so things will change.”