Internet Connectivity

VSNL (now Tata Indicom) wins comfortably, followed by Dishnet and Bharti in a Club that is crowded with eight brands, the highest in any segment this year. The number two for many years, Satyam, slipped to joint fourth with MTNL. Though Indicom had acquired Dishnet just before the survey, we kept the two separate for this year, since as per our information the services were yet to be integrated. Else, Indicom's position would have been further strengthened.

Brand loyalty is the highest for Bharti at 83 percent followed by Indicom at 78 percent, and then Dishnet at 64 percent. MTNL has a low brand loyalty of 50 percent. Most of Dishnet's users who want to shift would opt for VSNL. But then the operations are already a part of VSNL, so that finding is moot. MTNL users want to switch almost equally to Dishnet, Satyam and Indicom. Like last year, Satyam would lose more users to brands that did not make it to the Users' Choice Club than to those in the Club. 

There are some regional brands who are getting good support from users. And then some brands show a clear geographical bias. Spectranet whose presence is limited to the National Capital Region made it to the Club, based solely on votes from that region. Similarly, third-placed Bharti, who is also a new entrant to the Club, got all its votes from the North and the South. From the West, it got just one vote. MTNL got almost no votes from the South and the South gave BSNL double the support that the other regions gave it.

The dark horse in the coming year could be Reliance, who has just rolled out its enterprise business. Reliance has already demonstrated its ability to change the complexion of the game in the cellphone market. Will it repeat that in the enterprise connectivity market?

2003