21 posts tagged “mobile”

The good thing is Telkomsel (50%+ market share) is not jumping the price war bandwagon... sort of...

But they might feel the heat a bit, especially in the lower end segment. So recently promoted is "call for 2 minutes and get 3 more minutes free" for Kartu As (low-end prepaid).

Attractive? Probably not so, compared to XL. Let's say for 5-minute on-net call, Telkomsel charges Rp 20/sec x 120 sec (the next 180 sec is free) = Rp 2400/5-minute; while XL charges Rp 600 sampai puassss.

Anyway, they also launched a promo for post-paid subscribers.

• free minute for on-net, up to 60 minutes (T&C applies, I think depends on your monthly usage)
• free "You've Got Mail" feature (Rp 15.000/month)
  
• free TelkomselPoin bonus (kind of credit card reward points/frequent flyer miles)
  

A bit difficult for Telkomsel. They are the market leader, dominant position. Need to plan their moves carefully, so that they are not violating anti-monopoly / anti-trust / fair-competition acts/laws.

Intensifying the price war... Indosat strikes back at XL. Position themselves as "no t&c" which is an irony for XL (previously known as no term and conditions).

To reiterate the recent campaign. They put this one full page in Kompas Minggu.

IM2 Prepaid

Well, not the first technically, because Telkomsel has already lauched 3G/HSDPA service for its Simpati Prepaid. But they are different, Indosat charges the service by volume, while Telkomsel by minute.

The website is not too informative, unfortunately.... http://www.indosatm2.com/index.php/services/indosatnet/prepaid3g. Probably if I download the PDF, I'll understand more. But do I have to download a PDF file and read it through? Why don't put the necessary information in the website.

Probably I'd better call the customer service.... (and put on hold for a couple of hours while they're searching for the correct person to explain the service...)

Today XL formally launched the "Rp 0,00000...1" campaign (link). There's a big change however - probably due to strong criticism; the long zero's is no longer mentioned. Instead the ad now says "lowest rate to all operators, guaranteed" and "Rp 600 sampai puasssss" (translation: all you can eat).

Probably this is to attack Fren "Rp 700" Promo.

Rephrase: XL 0,00000...1

Wait a moment... is it Rp 600 to all operators or only on-net? Of course you have to read the fine prints to understand what they really doing AND to find that they misled people.... again... :-)

Six hundred rupiah is for on-net (between XL subscribers), and only between 23:00 - 10:59 in Jabotabek. For other case, good luck... still pretty low, but they are different rates:

• basically they give free call after a certain seconds - depends on where you are and what time the call is made
  
• there's a positive thing: for Sumatera, NTT, Ambon, Papua, it is even lower -- free after 30 seconds (so practically Rp 300 all you can eat).
• NTT, Ambon and Papua even enjoy this free-after-30-sec longer: 19 hours, from 23:00 - 18:00 WIT (or 21:00 - 16:00 WIB), great!

• 0 - 2 minute: Rp 25/sec
• 3 - 10 minute: free
• >10: Rp 10/sec

Secondly, I am wondering, whether this applies to my post-paid subscription? Probably not.

Meanwhile, Telkomsel is playing a different game... this is a branding/image campaign - emphasizing that Telkomsel is committed to nation's development, "supporting the Government to serve Indonesia in various aspects of life"

Telkomsel - Rabiah

More zeros than you...

Indosat website is down (from my LAN) at this moment so no further details :-)

On Saturday, I spotted another shocking one-third page ad... XL (translated) said that "timed calls are now outdated!"

XL Flat Rate Ad - Teaser

On the next page came this:

XL Flat Rate Ad - Inside

Basically they kind of capped the off-net call rate to Rp 3000,- per call. Flat rate, all you can eat. Of course there are terms and conditions.... (More when I found the details on their website).

Update

Yes, it is capping the call rate, kind of. After a certain minute, depending on the time of day, the call cost you Rp 0.00000...1 per sec (or practically FREE).

For on net calls, here's the T&C:

• Rp 10/sec for the first NNN seconds, then...
  
• 23:00 - 10:59, free after 60 sec.
• 11:00 - 18:59, free after 120 sec.
  
• 19:00 - 22:59, free after 180 sec.
  

For off-net calls, I still don't get it, the press release seems confusing (is it free after 2, 3, 4, or 10 minutes?):

Untuk telepon antara operator, pengguan XL bebas juga tetap dapat menikmati manfaat telepon sampai puas (Rp 0,00000...1 atau setara gratis) setelah menit ke 2 – 10. Adapun tarif di menit pertama adalah Rp 25/detik dan setelah 10 menit Rp 10/detik. Tarif di atas sudah termasuk PPN dan berlaku di Jabodetabek, Jawa Barat, Jawa Tengah, DI Yogyakarta, Jawa Timur, Bali, Lombok.

http://www.xl.co.id/Korporat/Ruang_Media/Siaran_Pers/XL_bebas_Tetap_Termurah

Guess I have to wait until they got a decent explanation.

One cent can not buy anything (in physical world) in Indonesia. But you can make a one second call with that... :-)
Just launched today, another retaliation move in the recent telco price war. This time it's Indosat.

According to the terms and conditions:

• the first 90 seconds cost Rp 15/sec (or Rp 25/sec for off-net)
• and only after that it will cost you 1cent per second - so Rp 6 per minute, which is basically free
  

Notes:

• All prices in IDR
• Esia rate is for local mobile calls
  
• I still have to cross check Indosat's T&C after the third minutes - website's down so can't get any details
• I did not take into account the VAT and the market price of the prepaid vouchers - they may add or subtract 5-10% of the above prices...
  

0.01

Until recently, the name of the battle for cheapest tariff in Indonesia is "on net" battle. Basically operators are racing to reach the new limbo of who offer the lowest tariff for calls between subscribers of the same operator (on-net). It varies from Rp 1 per second, Rp 1000 per hour, Rp 50 per minute, Rp 1 per minute, Rp 50cents per second, Rp 0, and so on. We jokingly wonder when it will reach minus sign...

This is a good sign (for the subscribers) that the industry is getting more competitive. Not for the operators (and vendors).

When that is no longer enough.... the battle now shifts to who gives the cheapest off net... If you can get like Rp 1 per minute for on-net, why the cheapest for off-net was way above that?

Fren started this on the 14th of January 2008.... "Fren Fact": Rp 700 per minute (US 7~8cents) to "any GSM operators, anywhere, anytime." I haven't checked whether the claim is 100% correct, but well, I assume they did have their research done before launching the claim.

Fren Rp 700 Ad

Then XL strikes back with "0.10 Rupiah per second to all operators" -- or seemingly cheaper than Fren with per minute charge of Rp 6 (six rupiah!). Launched just 4 days after Fren's campaign.

XL Ad

Although after reading the terms & conditions, it is just complicated... First of all, it's only for their prepaid customers (Bebas Prepaid Card) and there are different tariffs for different regions. Then the scheme is just complicated: Rp 25/sec for the first two minutes then Rp 10cent/sec for the next two, then back again to 25/sec.

XL previous positioning statement was "no terms and conditions."

It is an interesting time in life for mobile (operator) marketers. Life and death. Why do we always resort to price as the ultimate marketing weapon?

I need to point you to another interesting article comparing Indonesian & US phone price: Reality Check - Wireless Service in Indonesia. The writer showed a good point that on nominal basis, American cellphone calls are twice or three times more expensive Indonesian. However, the comments are also correct by pointing out the difference in GDP. (Based this Wikipedia article, USA PPP is about 12 times of Indonesia). Though in Indonesia we allow subscribers to purchase and consume airtime in very small denomination. And with this recent battle, it's definitely going to be a lot cheaper now...

Anyway, my closing remark is watch the price development of Indonesian mobile phone industry... (and similarly, have a look at India).