LIRNEasia has been moved to Denmark, but hey, we take whatever coverage we can get!
Missed call virus bugs telecom firms
A study by Learning Initiatives on Reforms for Network Economies (Lirne), a Denmark-based NGO that focusses on telecom issues, shows that over half of India’s 140 million mobile subscribers make missed calls to convey a pre-agreed message.
As many as 95 per cent of the pre-paid customers used missed calls for this purpose, the study added.
For operators, missed calls clog networks without earning them revenue, also frustrating genuine callers with “network busy” messages.
“Missed calls use microwave links, the backhaul and the exchange and yet we make no money,” said a senior executive of Hutchison-Essar.
1 Comment
zzainudeen
The data reported here is actually not correct; the actual percentage of Indians at the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) who use missed calls is 36%. The percentage at the BOP who use prepaid mobile is 95%. These numbers apply only to the Indian BOP (as defined by the study: those of socio-economic classifications D and E between ages 18 and 60).