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Hope people know that I am a 'lurker' from India.
Last month or so, we had a text plan from the state-owned telephone company: 22,000 text messages per month for Rs. 99 (little more than $2). And, I know people who know people who finished their quota. Well, that is another thread.
Now, american carriers can explain THIS. Please note that the incoming messages are not counted in India. All incoming voice and text is free.
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Hey bro, I was about to post as evidence (on how little it costs U. S. cell phone companies to offer text) the rates they pay in India. And from what I understand, even cell phone service is stinking cheap over there.
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Stinking cheap if you're making Dollars.
Probably not as cheap if you're the average guy in Mumbai making rupees.
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Seacrest wrote:
You guys must have read different Econ 101 textbooks than I did.
The price of a good or service has very little to do with the cost of production, but rather what the market will bear.
In this case, the market for "txting" has -- at this point in time -- decided it is willing to pay "x" per txt or "xx" for a specified level of nn to infinity txts.
That doesn't mean, of course that the market will always bear that price.
Disruptive technologies will undoubtedly soon appear that circumvent the producers' physical stranglehold on txt distribution, and they will then be forced to lower their prices, and of course this being the new era of "free market orthodoxy," reluctantly ask the government for a bailout.
I think this is largely correct (even though intended apparently as tounge-in-cheek) for a competitive, frictionless marketplace. The rub, however, comes because the cell companies throw up all sorts of barriers. You can't simply switch carriers of one drops their txt rates, and you certainly can't pay for voice from one carrier and txt from another. If those options were available, then this demand-side argument would hold up pretty well.
I'm kind of glad nobody ever texts me because at $.20 a pop my bill could easily double.
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Sorry, Rs. 99 is not a big deal even for guys earning in rupees in cities. An auto rickshaw ride (no taxis, mind it) would easily set you back by Rs. 50 from point A to point B.
For instance, (am not an average earning guy, though; above average) I spend about Rs. 200 everyday in city of Chennai to commute between home and work place. A little expensive in our standards.
But, Rs. 99 does not hurt for a college-going kid; it is a fraction of the pocket money earned. Positively.
( Wouldn't the hands tremble if you have hit your limit of 22000 messages a month. Dang.)
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These people do not have jobs. College kids.
And, you don't have to do messaging one-by-one. You can send it to multiple recipients.
And, loud-and-clear: Incoming voice and text is always free. Our Supreme Court decided that it is not good to charge for incoming some five/six years back. There is a TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) which decides a whole lot of things here; presence of TRAI is bad for the telecom companies and good for people
