Telecom Sector - 2 : 10 different ways to pay the bill for 10% mobile subscribers

India's telecom sector is divided into 23 different circles for effective operations and management - like licensing and restricting number of operators. With the introduction of mobile services in 1995, there was no looking back on the growth of mobile subscribers - the latest count being around 900 million ! With the largest operator, Airtel, holding about 170+ million mobile subscribers, how would they ensure that all the customers pay for their service in time?

It should be interesting to note that 90%+ of mobile subscribers use pre-paid services. This ensures a stead flow of cash (up-front) for the operators for the services being offered. There are both online and offline mechanisms to re-charge one's prepaid mobile number. In the offline mode, the authorized agents can re-charge an amount for a specific mobile number. This is made so simple through SMS-based update that mom-n-pop stores in street corners can become the operator agents. Simple but effective use of technology that affects 600 million subscribers !

For the post-paid bill payment, there are umpteen options being provided by each operator.

1. Online bill payment using credit / debit card and internet banking on operator sites
2. Pay at the operator service centers
3. Drop a cheque at drop-boxes provided at specific outlets
4. Make payment through 3rd party online authorized agents like paytm
5. Pay through Bank ATMs
6. Pay using pre-paid cards like ITZ card
7. Pay through Internet Banking
8. Provide standing instructions for direct debit from your bank account
9. Don't stand in the queue but pay at the self-service kiosks at operator centers
10. Interactive voice response systems (IVR) offer another mechanism for bill payment

If you are not interested in any of the above, a 'collection agent' would be present at your door stop. To be fair to the operators, we must think that they are asking for money 'after-providing-service' in case of post-paid connections.

The heart of all these operations are the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Billing Systems from Information Technology (IT) perspective. Recording the call durations, locations, generating itemized billing based on circles and billing cycles, sending notices (SMS or e-mail) to all those millions of subscribers and tracking their payments through different channels is no mean task. The billions of rupees investment required for capital infrastructure would not be possible without appropriate IT systems in place.

We must acknowledge Sunil Mittal of Bharti Airtel for strategically outsourcing the entire IT operations in the beginning itself. Even the telecom infrastructure is outsourced by them and they focus on core competency of innovation and marketing. He pioneered that model which is replicated in one way or the other even in other sectors too.