Despite barriers put up by the security establishment and special circumstances prevailing in Kashmir, the valley enjoys high penetration of cell phone connections.
In October when Idea Cellular, the youngest of the seven cell phone service providers in India launched its 3G service in Srinagar, one of its executives said the company understood the concerns of the security agencies in the state. “We have learnt to live with the security apparatus and we are working closely with the MHA and other security agencies.” Anish Roy, Idea Cellular’s COO for North India. “It (market) is difficult but rewarding,” added his colleague.
Undoubtedly, the cell phone is J&K’s fastest growth story. The battle over its introduction, resisted by the security establishment, gave the service a hype that otherwise would have required millions of rupees for promotion. By the end of 2004, only two players were servicing over 200 thousand users. Then there was no looking back. The numbers tripled in 2005, doubled again in 2006 and sustained a growth that eventually pushed it to reach half a crore in January 2010. However, by September 2010, the numbers had dwindled to 46 lakh.
Policy interventions contributed negatively. An outright ban on prepaid services at the request of the state government was the first shock. The second shock came when bulk SMSs were banned and later this service was totally withdrawn. Though the pre-paid service was resumed, they lack the SMS facility which forces the user to spend more. Harsh verification procedures make operators cancel SIMs summarily, sometimes in thousands by a single stroke.
By the end of November, the cell phone penetration was more than 59,26,526 – which means almost half of the population living in J&K has access to a mobile phone. Currently, it is the Barti Airtel that dominates the market with a share of 33.54 per cent chased closely by Aircell (Dishnet Wireless) by 26.21 per cent. The state-run BSNL that introduced the service and owns most of the monitoring and the backbone has been relegated to the third slot with 15.38 per cent. Vodafone controls 11.04 per cent, Reliance Communications 9.21 per cent, Idea Cellular has 2.56 per cent share and Tata Services has 2.03 per cent market share. Interestingly, though BSNL has its 3G infrastructure in place the launch has been delayed for unknown reasons.
On average J&K users spend an estimated Rs 1000 crores a year on the mobile handsets and the services the operators offer. Of the entire clientele, around two-thirds is from Kashmir contributing most of the revenue. But all the operators have their main offices in Jammu, apparently for logistical and situational reasons. Interestingly, not many of them are interested in hand-holding the local economy. Barring Airtel which has a BPO working here and AirCell having a similar facility in Jammu, all others have diverted their customer care to other states, mostly to Punjab. An official intervention should have triggered a change in the mindset of the honchos heading these services. Is anybody listening?
