Things Vodafone-Idea Missed That Led To Their Customers Loss

One of the fastest growing and emerging sectors in the Indian business industry is the telecommunication market. Telecommunication is one lucrative business opportunity as mobile phones have penetrated almost everybody’s lives in the modern time.

With 512.26 million internet subscribers, as of June 2018, India is currently the second largest telecommunication industry globally. Having 1.17 billion subscriber base, the industry is experiencing rapid penetration by brands in the past decade and a half.

It is predicted that in the upcoming five years, the increasing mobile phone penetration and a decline in data cost will generate new opportunities for businesses.

India’s major telecommunication players Vodafone and Idea recently lost around 6.5 million users in November 2018. The two brands merged together recently in order to enhance and improve their network services for a better result. But things just don’t seem right for Voda-Idea.  

According to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), telecommunication companies like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio notched up modest customers by improving their connectivity and deep cuts in data charges.

Connectivity and Advertisement

While telecom brands like Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio experienced tremendous growth, brands like Vodafone and Idea on the same hand witnessed a drastic fall in their shares and revenues due to lack of focus and strategies.

One major reason why Airtel and Jio achieved major success was their constant focus on increasing the customer base by improving the connectivity in both rural and urban India.

Additionally, their advertising strategies played an essential role in generating curiosity and awareness among the customers.

While companies like Airtel and Jio constantly worked upon reducing the data rate along with increasing the towers for quality connectivity, Vodafone and Idea focused more on their merging initiative, neglecting their connectivity quality and improving their customer base.    

Need to work on the Customer Base

The customer base has emerged as one important factor that defined success for the telecommunication brands. Successful telecommunication brands were seen focusing on improving their customer base that brought positive result for several companies.

Reliance Jio approximately added 10.5 million customers till October 2018 that explained the importance of building a quality customer base by constantly improving the connectivity over regions.

The Industry Requires Immediate Intervention

Rajan Mathews, Director General, COAI shares, “The telecom industry deserves urgent and immediate intervention to encourage policy and regulatory stability, given its mounting debt and debilitating financial health.”  

The Shift in the Focus Causing Issues

Indian analysts are looking at the current telecommunication market closely. It is predicted that Vodafone and Idea need to change their market strategy and focus in order to sustain and gain back their customers with time.

According to analysts, these two major telecom brands are focusing more on integrating two vast companies and their networks rather than looking at the current trend and new customer acquisitions.