Mobilution
26
Prepaid Market Trends:
The Four Major Problems to Solve for an Operator
Growing subscriber base,
rising stock-outs positions
Prepaid market will grow by 16.6% over the
next 4 years. This makes our addressable
market one of the most exciting one to be in.
As the market grows, it is obvious operators
would want to invest in the prepaid erecharge platform. The majority of these
subscribers are set to come from the rural
and sub-urban markets. These markets are
typically far flung from the distributor point.
That makes these markets infrequently
serviced. A typical Foot on Street would be
servicing this market once or twice monthly,
while an urban market would be serviced
once a week. This means that the problem of
balance stock out in such markets will
become more acute.
Every stock out in a multi-sim market is a
revenue opportunity loss, as this recharge
denial would mean that the multi-sim
customer would go for a competition’s
recharge on his other sim. The problem
actually goes beyond this one-time
opportunity loss. Because once the “other
Sim” is recharged, it becomes the primary
sim till the consumer uses up the balance,
giving the competition operator the vital time
to engage with the consumer. The
competition operator uses his time as
primary sim to splurge the consumer with
disproportionate offers with the motive to
becoming a permanent primary sim
provider. Hence this one-time opportunity
loss because of a denial (which was because
of the stock out) would push the operator’s
sim to a secondary sim i.e. into the consumer’s
wallet or pocket. In such cases winning back
the consumer becomes difficult because the
operator no longer enjoys the privilege of
engaging with the consumer.
Hence in competitive multi-sim markets
which are growing stock out is an acute
problem and thus solving it for the operator
would result in plugging revenue losses. And
it would also help in gaining incremental
revenue when competing operators stock
out situations.