Competition may drive telcos to FMCG-style market research

Intense competition for market share has sent telecom operators knocking on the doors of market research firms. And so the Nielsen company is introducing new research services at point of sale for the telecom sector. CNBC-TV18's Tanvi Shukla and Priyal Guliani.

As the tariff wars get more intense, telecom operators are looking at newer ways to stay ahead of the curve. For this, they need more market data and analysis to plan their strategies. Sensing this need, the Nielsen company is planning to introduce new research services with the sample universe being as big as 12,000 retail outlets.

Says Shankari Panchapakesan, Executive Director, Nielsen Telecom Practice, "We are looking at launching retail measurement for telecom. This will measure trade structure, reach, market size and share, effectiveness and quality of strategies."

Such detailed research till now was only being done for the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. But experts say that telecom industry's reach has now become bigger than that of FMCG with subscriptions and recharge vouchers being sold at paanwallahs, restaurants, grocery stores and even in the most far-flung villages.

"The requirements have become more complex with over 52 million subscribers," says Pradeep Shrivastava, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea. "We want to understand what consumers need. So I guess we are becoming more demanding for research agencies."

Two months ago, 50 paise per minute was the in thing. Today it's per second billing. Operators say they don't know what might come next and so research agencies need to give them monthly feedback to understand the market.