Over
the past few years, mobile phone adoption have generated a
significant amount of hype and interest especially in India,
where wireless industry is the fastest growing market in the
whole of the Asia-Pacific region with a compounded Annual
Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40-42%. But, at the same time, Indian
telecom infrastructure in rural areas is lagging behind the
expected levels and consequently, the gap between the urban
and rural tele-density has been increasing. The urban tele-density
has surged to 31.1%, while the rural tele-density has gone
up by only 1.94% (Ringing Data, Financial Express, 2005).
Two major reasons for this are the perceived lack of profitability
of rural telecommunication and the lack of appropriate policies
and strategies to provide Universal Access.
Experiments such as Hindustan Lever's project Shakti, ITC
is e-chaupal and n-Longue's etc., are an attempt to wiring
up Rural India. The efficient policy development is required
at the government and corporate level, but at the same time,
we cannot neglect the actual conditions at the ground level
for the effective penetration of mobile market in rural areas.
Although it is evident that the large players in the telecommunication
business constantly conduct market research, the problem is
that once they come to know the solutions of any problem,
they usually keep the solution inside the company walls, which
hide the consumer behavior not only in cell phone industry
but in academic literature also. Corporates who have understood
the psyche of rural consumers and markets, and have learned
to work with it are successful. |
