India’s popularity among low cost mobile manufacturers like Xiaomi, OnePlus and others is big enough to make the country their highest priority. The main reason for this surge is, among many other things, the fact that Indians prefer prepaid connections more than post paid. While the lucrative recharge offers make prepaid a better option for cost sensitive con-sumers, what this translates to the low cost mobile manufacturers is a market free from telco-subsidised iPhones and other high-end phones.
Indians have too much love for prepaid and it is only going to grow stronger. This is in con-trast to developed markets where unlocked gsm phones barely have a market. In developed countries like UK and US, telcos heavily subsidise high end mobiles to acquire long term subscribers in a bid to recover the amount through the course of the term. These connections typically come with a two year contract, with a monthly rental that help make the business profitable. Most customers in these countries do not seem to mind as long as they get their brand new high end smartphones. This is a long shot in India where even postpaid consumers pay a premium price for flagship devices.
It does raise the question though – are you better off using a prepaid connection or would a postpaid arrangement serve you better? Like any other question like this one, the answer does, to some extent, depend on who you are and what are your needs. Surely, you can not work with a prepaid connection if you work in Sales. However, there is a large group of mobile users who are happy with mobile internet and barely even make calls.
For anyone looking to have more control over their bills and a more clearer understanding of their usage, Prepaid is still the way to go. Convenience wise, however, postpaid remains the choice to make especially now that most telcos offer auto debit of monthly bills. It sure will be interesting to see if Indian telcos will start offering US style contracts here and how that’ll change preference.
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