VoLTE Feature Phone: Can Operator Revenues Volt?

VoLTE Feature Phone: Can Operator Revenues Volt?

- Faisal Kawoosa

There is only one appeal for operators in a VoLTE Feature Phone – it can bring its entire subscriber base on a single technology network and can initiate switching off the 2G networks.

From disruption point of view, India has again exemplified the uniqueness of the market characteristics where the dynamics are so divergent that something hybrid fills the gap. Remembering those early days of Smartphone when Nokia was ‘projecting’ its Asha series as a Smartphone while the wave anchored by Samsung was driving on Android and users were clearly experiencing what a Smartphone was.We are again at the same crossroad where Jio launched JioPhone is a limited capability Smartphone riding over a Feature Phone. This is essentially to fill up the gap where a user may not have heavy data use case as well as from affordability point of view will not be willing to spend somewhere between ₹4,000 – 6,000 for a Smartphone that may still not be a good fit from experience point of view.

However, there is only one appeal for operators in a VoLTE Feature Phone – it can bring its entire subscriber base on a single technology network and can initiate switching off the 2G networks. This will somehow align the investments with the revenue potentials. Currently, operators are investing heavily on 4G network capabilities but over 70% of their revenues are still coming from the voice services. This is a mismatch that a VoLTE Feature Phone can help overcome and finally we may get to see convergence at the core as well as access infrastructure.