MTS, a CDMA mobile operator that is part of Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), has added nearly 800,000 customers in the month of October 2011, taking its total customer base to over 14,060,000
An MTS spokesperson said to The Mobile Indian, “We were able to get 7,95,523 customers in the festive month of October because we gave the CDMA consumers the option to choose from a variety of Android phones at different price points and we also initiated a lot of awareness campaign across the country.”
He further added, “We had launched two affordable Android smartphones — MTS MTag 3.1 and MTS Livewire in the sub Rs 5,000 category in the month of Diwali, which propelled our growth. Apart from that we saw a surge in demand for HTC Pulse which we had launched couple of months back.”
MTS has just launched two Android handsets in October — Livewire and MTag, with bundled offers. With a price tag of just Rs 4,999 for Livewire and Rs 5,499 for MTag, and with free bundled voice, data and SMS, the two phones are great for prepaid users.
MTS’s phones were the first CDMA Android devices. . In the GSM category, Spice Mi270 at Rs 5,700 seems a competitor for the newly launched MTS handsets but it does not have 3G and hence does not support high speed connectivity. Other options with 3G are more expensive — such as Karbonn A1 for Rs 6,400, Micromax Andro A60 at Rs 5,700 and Vodafone 858 Smart (the GSM version of MTag) at Rs 6,700.
Pre-paid users who opted for Livewire and MTag got 150 minutes of calls, 150 SMSs and 150 MB of data free every month for 12 months.
For postpaid users pricing was more attractive with Livewire available for Rs 2,999 and MTag 3.1 for Rs 3,500. However, there is a 12 month contract during which users had to pay Rs 250 each month, but then they get 250 minutes of calls, 250 SMSs and 250 MB of data free every month of the contract period.
Apart from bundled handset MTS had rolled out special offers for all its existing and new subscribers in Kolkata and West Bengal, especially for Diwali. This special offer was valid from October 22-26; and involved voice customers who recharge with a value of Rs 75 or above will stand a chance to win smartphones, data cards and free Talk time through random lucky draws. Also, along with the recharge offer MTS customers with maximum usage can win prizes till November 3 if they call 55777 (CRBT service).
Alongside this MTS has also announced a special offer for data customers as well and was offering 10 GB data on purchase of a new MBlaze Data card at Rs 1199 during festive season priced.