MSMEs Might Help Telcos To Generate More Revenues: Here's How

Reliance Jio, Airtel, Vodafone-Idea, and Tata Teleservices have started looking at other segments to increase their revenues. These telcos are focussing on MSMEs as these can get digitized easily and there are a lot of opportunities that will help them to generate more revenues.

"JioBusiness is bridging this gap by providing enterprise-grade voice and data services, digital solutions, and devices to small businesses which would make them efficient, competitive...," the company said in its annual report.

Reliance Jio states that medium and small-scale enterprises (MSME) are the base of the Indian economy, which needs to know about digitization as they are lacking in the same segment.

MSMEs Likely To Increase Telcos Revenues

Interestingly, sources close to the recent development said that after receiving stability in the mobile segment, which is why large corporates are eyeing the MSME segment as it remains undeveloped and it can generate revenue post-pandemic.

"There are about 20 million small and medium businesses or what we call Kirana stores in the retail segment. They are now largely fragmented but post-Covid, are trying to digitize and this is where telcos can woo them with their cloud-based enterprise solutions," says Rohan Dhamija, partner and head of India and the Middle East at Analysys Mason.

Notably, there are close to 58 million MSMEs, which are contributing 30 percent to GDP and 40 percent to exports.

Airtel And Vodafone-Idea Strategies For MSMEs

Apart from Reliance Jio, Airtel is also eyeing the MSME sector. The company has joined hands with National Small Industries Corporation to offer B2B solutions for its customers. The company has launched mobile plans, toll-free calling, security solutions, and more.

However, analysts said that currently, telcos are only getting 10 percent of revenues from MSMEs and it is likely to grow to 30 percent in the coming years.

Furthermore, Vodafone-Idea also launched solutions for the sector. It includes cloud telephony, G-Suite, endpoint security, location tracking solutions, fixed-line connectivity solutions, and more for its small enterprise customers.

Leading telecom operators are struggling to attract users to their high-end tariff plans. However, MSMEs can purchase a plan of Rs. 1,000 to fulfill the data needs and other solutions, which have been launched for the sector. These solutions will help MSMEs to increase their digital presence and this could be a new segment that can help telcos.