The Overcrowded GSM Mobile Market has now witnessed another entrant, S Tel. A joint venture between Siva Group (formerly Sterling Infotech Group) and Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco), S Tel currently offers services in six Category C circles i.e. Orissa, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, North East, Assam and Jammu & Kashmir.
Currently it has two tariff plans which will cost the consumer, 1 paisa/second and 50 paisa/minute both for STD and Local Outgoing calls respectively. Both the plans come with a special benefit of 60 minutes of free local calls per month for a period of 3 months. Also, the company announced 3 Special Tariff Vouchers (STVs) of Rs. 9, Rs. 149 and Rs. 1499 which on using, the consumer will gain 60 minutes of free outgoing local calls to any network per day for a day, month and year respectively appealing to a wide audience with light, moderate and heavy mobile usage.
Besides a robust traditional distribution network, S Tel will also leverage the Non Traditional channels (NTCs) to make its products available at the consumer’s doorstep. NTCs will include Business Units such as Insurance agencies, Cable operators, Courier services & Ground Panchayats that are characterised by high customer interaction touch points.
The company has also entered into an agreement with Indiatimes.com to provide a host of VAS services packed with rich localised content that is relevant to its audience. Besides Astrology, Bollywood and Cricket & Sports, VAS services also provides tips on devotion (Gita,Bible, Gurbaani, etc), career & education (interview & exam tips) as well as female care (beauty, cookery, fashion, etc tips) etc.