Azernews.Az

Summer holidays are already behind, workdays have begun, the weather is getting colder and colder, and the summer discounts are no longer available in shops. Meanwhile, staunch competition flares up among cellular communication operators. Their subscribers have grown accustomed through the years that after the discounts offered in summer, new "presents" should be expected no earlier than the New Year. But now everything has changed. The emergence of a third operator in the domestic market, as we predicted, prompted companies in the field to re-consider their approach to tariff policy.
Cellular operators have stepped up their activities. However, it is clear even at first glance that tariff approaches to consumers in different companies are strikingly different. In order to understand which company offers us a truly advantageous discount system, let's draw a little comparison.
Traditionally in September, a lottery campaign of one of the mobile communication providers of Azerbaijan drew to a close. During that campaign, its subscribers who loaded or added talk units to their balance became owners of computers, cameras, walkmans and cell phones, and gained additional talk units. With the advent of autumn, the same operator launches its new campaign related to SMS. From October 1 to December 31, subscribers sending 5 SMS during the day will be able to send 5 more SMS messages free of charge.
Within the summer campaign of another cellular operator that has been in business for a long time, its subscribers refilling to their balance during workdays, i.e. from Monday to Friday, scratch cards of any face value received some discounts for their calls at the weekends only. Moreover, starting in mid-2007 the same operator began to provide communication services in all subway stations of Baku. It should also be noted that Nar Mobile, the new operator, cannot boast of rendering such services yet.
In our opinion, the most advantageous offer - both during summer holidays and in autumn - was made by Nar Mobile. During its summer bonus campaign, the company offered to its subscribers free minutes of call time, which were calculated according to the amount of the refilled Nar Kart: if refilling the card with the value of 2 manats - 10 free minutes, 5 manats - 30 minutes, 10 manats - 60 minutes, 20 manats - 130 minutes, and 50 manats - 350 minutes.
It is worth mentioning that this campaign has now been prolonged until the end of the year for scratch cards worth 10, 20 and 50 manats (up to $59).
In addition to the summer campaign, Nar Mobile offers a new tariff plan which has a low barrier for connection. At the same time a subscriber receives monthly 20 free minutes for calls to Nar Mobile numbers, as well as to other communication operators of Azerbaijan! Meanwhile, the fee for calls within the network is set on such a financially attractive level that it has no analogues in the domestic market.
It is indicative that such flexible discounts and bonus campaigns are unique for local cellular operators. In fact, it is absolutely not typical for operators with an "established" clientele, previous monopolists that believe their services will be used at all times and their use has become rather habitual among customers. Such operators unwillingly undertake real cuts in fees and offer subscribers various discounts to SMS messages, participation in contests and winning prizes, i.e. one-time campaigns. Meanwhile, the consumer is growing wary of the huge amount of offers on the "buy one, get one free" basis.
The most valuable thing for all of us is time. We do not want to waste it. At the same time, we do not want to overpay for it. In the aspect of active policy which a company pursues upon entering the cellular communication market, the new tariff package of Nar Mobile offers a wide range of bonus discounts for the highly valued minutes of call time. We can easily say that the proposed discounts are a breakthrough in the marketing policy of mobile operators in Azerbaijan.
Pecuniary incentives are the best tools to attract clients, but they keep the consumer satisfied only until a competitor offers more advantageous terms. Judging by its current activities, Nar Mobile relies on long-standing and stable relations with its clients. It is for this reason that the company creates terms under which clients can benefit from simplicity, convenience, reliability and support from their business partner - where a particular role is played by the non-financial component and high-level confidence, which is much more complex to create, and as a result, to copy.