[Campaign messaging, calls expected to boost telcos’ revenues by 5 per cent] NEW DELHI: The greatest democratic show on earth currently playing out in India — parliamentary election and the runup to it — augurs well for the nations economy, and so for its telecommunicationssector. A study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry estimates election-related spending in March and April to boost gross domestic productby Rs60,000 crore. Much of the spending by political parties and candidates will go for hiring loudspeakers to aircraft and into businesses from printing to broadcasting, aiding the economyat a time when it is growing at its slowest pace in a decade. Industry experts estimate the communications sector to corner as much as 10 per cent of the spending pie. The debt-ridden and fund-hungry telecom industry is expected to be a major beneficiary, as parties and candidates try to make canvassing look personal. An SMS is probably the closest to a one-on-one interaction with a candidate in comparison with that through traditional media like radio, TV and posters, said Prashant Singhal, the telecom practice head at consultancy firm E&Y. In fact, poll demand has already breathed a new life into SMSes, a telecom product that has been hit badly by the onslaught from instant messaging services like WhatsApp. Subscribers also receive pre-recorded calls soliciting support for candidates on a daily basis. The telecom industry will easily see a bump up of more than 5 per cent in its revenue, Singhal said. He was referring to revenue for February, March and April — a period when canvassing will be at its peak for the polls which start April 7 and end May 12. According to most recent data from the Trai, the sector posted Rs38,810 crore of revenue during the quarter through September 2013, registering nearly flat growth from the previous quarter. Analysts expect the performance to be better in the January-March quarter. Top telecom operators Bharti Airtel BSE 0.73 %, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular BSE -0.37 %declined to comment on the impact of election spending on their results. Messages currently contribute about 3-4 per cent to an operators revenue while voice makes up the bulk, with data a growing contributor at about 8-10 per cent.Any growth in SMS and voice revenue will be incremental to what operators get in the normal course of business, say analysts. One can easily see the trend and estimate that SMSes and calls to garner support for a candidate have grown in significant numbers in these elections, said Hemant Joshi of Deloitte Haskins & Sells. The most common way for sending out messages is through registered tele-marketers. They offer packs of bulk SMSes bought from telecom operators. If the price per SMS is about 8 paise, about two paise go to the tele marketers pocket and the rest to the telecom operator, said a senior executive at a telecom company. Another trend is buying of many SIM cards and sending out the maximum number messages — 100 per SIM a day. So, if a person sends out 100 messages from 100 SIM cards a day, he can cover 10,000 potential voters, said another executive.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:23:49 +0000
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