Airtel’s 4G model is very different from Reliance’s

Airtel’s 4G model, for now, seems to be better suited to the emerging realities of new media

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Not only did Bharti Airtel surprise everyone with the launch, it also set the benchmark for pricing by offering the 4G service at the same price as its 3G one. Photo: PTI

Everyone hates their telco. Hate may be a strong word (apt in some cases, but strong), but fact is, most people are not happy with their telcos.

I am on Airtel and don’t think the quality of network is anything to write home about.

My wife is on Vodafone and she feels the same about that company.

Indeed, as I pointed out in an opinion piece, based on a survey, no one seems satisfied with their telco.

That was a preamble—necessary, because I am going to speak of 4G or high-speed, data-rich, fourth-generation telecom services, and the cynical response to this is: “None of these guys can get 2G right, and they want to do 4G.”

The company everyone likes to talk about when it comes to 4G is Reliance Industries. Its service is branded Reliance Jio, and is long-awaited. The reason, we are given to understand, is the company’s insistence on getting everything right and building and owning (yes, owning) not just the network, but also much of the content and utility ecosystem.

This is only understandable. Reliance Industries, after all, is the company featured in B-school case studies about the benefits of forward and backward integration. From filament to fabric (for petrochemical and polyester). Or from farm to fork (for food retail). And from ocean floor to gas station (for oil and gas).

Yet, on Thursday, it was not Reliance that launched its 4G service, but Bharti Airtel. Not only did the company surprise everyone with the launch, it also set the benchmark for pricing by offering the service at the same price as its 3G one.

But Airtel’s model appears to be different. There has been no talk of owning the ecosystem. Instead, I caught Airtel’s CEO on TV telling an interviewer that the company is completely agnostic when it comes to this. We see the world in terms of MBs, Gopal Vittal said.

That may have been a throwaway line but—and I admit that I may be making much of it—it encapsulates a very different philosophy about content and utilities than Reliance’s. It is also one that I think is better suited to the emerging realities of new media.

Why build something that someone else already has? Why solve a problem that has already been solved? And why regulate or influence choice of users who, however unsophisticated they are, prefer to discover things in their own?

The game is afoot.