NEW DELHI: Bundling has long been the name of the game in the telecom space and Vi’s (erstwhile Vodafone Idea) Friday announcement dove-tails the trend. According to a company statement, the telco has signed up multiple partners in the edtech and healthcare segments, and the partnerships will result in Vi customers getting exclusive benefits.
VIL has entered into strategic partnerships with players spanning “Learning & Upskilling, Health & Wellness, and Business” including those such as upGrad, Udemy, Pedagogy, cure.fit, 1mg, MFine, Eunimart, Hubbler and Fiskl. It also plans to undertake several other such agreements, it added.
“One of the key pillars of VIL’s business strategy is to drive partnerships and digital revenue streams, across segments. This will help us drive more value for our customers and offer growth opportunities for the business,” said Vodafone Idea CEO Ravinder Takkar.
Through the tie-ups, Vi will offer its subscribers a 10 per cent fee waiver on upGrad, get around 60 free courses on Udemy, and access to content including JEE and NEET sample tests on Pedagogy. As for the health sector, the benefits include discounts on medicine purchases on 1mg, and free trials on cure.fit
and Mfine.
Analysts say bundling such offerings has been a go-to strategy for telcos to increase the value propositions. “Tariffs are already too low to provide any profit margins, so offering more value by slashing prices is out of the question now—in fact, telcos are expected to raise prices soon. The best way is to offer more features to users along with their subscriptions,” said a senior analyst.