The Supreme Court verdict in the 2G spectrum case might have sent shock waves across telecom and political circles in the country, but courtesy the reassurances from service providers, customers of the affected telecom companies in the State seem to be largely unperturbed by the development. Nearly 10 lakh customers using Uninor and Videocon mobile services in the State are likely to be affected by the cancellation of the spectrum licences.
Companies confident
While Videocon has sent bulk service messages to its customers saying that its services will not be disconnected, a spokesperson of Uninor told The Hindu that the company was confident that its services in the State would not be affected by the verdict.
“I do not think there is much to be concerned about even if the service were to be disconnected as we can always use the number portability facility to switch to another connection,” Eric E. Stephen, a final-year mechanical engineering student and customer of Videocon mobile services, said.
“The problem is that if I choose another service, I will not get the tariff offers provided by Videocon,” he said.
Attractive tariff offers are the main strong points of the two companies, which have relatively fewer subscribers compared to other service providers. This is one reason that will make poaching difficult for the rival companies. Uninor has around 7.19 lakh subscribers in the State, while Videocon has around 2.47 lakh customers.
Uninor subscriber Surjit R.S, a BA economics student of S.N. College, Kollam, said it would not be easy to relinquish the 60,000 seconds free talk-time plan offered by the company for a recharge of mere Rs.98. “I do not think any other service has that sort of an attractive talk-time offer. We have a whole gang of friends who have taken the Uninor connection because of its offers,” he said.
“I have subscribed to both Videocon and Airtel,” Harold Jose from Pettah in the city said. “Most people that I know who have subscribed to these two companies use dual SIM with an auxiliary connection from another service provider. So, there will not be any major issue, even if one of the connections is disconnected,'' he said.
