Ex-Vodafone SVP launches app to help people save money on mobile plans
Most of us have no idea of our mobile usage, how much we are paying monthly and for what. Almost everyone has no clue about whether they are on the best tariff plan or over-spending money every month on their postpaid mobile bills and prepaid recharges. There are over 50,000 tariff plans across India, and these keep changing every month due to the competitive dynamics of the mobile industry. 3G and 4G networks are continuously being upgraded and changed by each operator. How can a consumer ever keep up and be well informed of all these changes in order to make the right choice? Who has the time to collect the entire tariff plan information and process it even though mobiles that have become an integral part of our life today? How can any consumer continually stay abreast of the latest changes and ensure they are price and quality optimized on their mobile service?
This was probably why two telecom and mobile Internet veterans, Jonathan Bill and Arvind Rao started www.billbachao.com. Jonathan is a former Vodafone veteran of Africa, UK and India and Rao is a serial entrepreneur in the mobile Internet and telecom VAS space (he was one of the speakers at MobileSparks).
“Mobile services in India is a very large Rs180,000 crores/year consumer spend category which pits the consumer against a maze of complex, opaque, ever changing tariff plans and network service quality. It is a perfect opportunity to use the power of smartphones and software algorithms to empower consumers in making the right choice and spending their money wisely.” – Arvind Rao
The service aims to empower mobile users using sophisticated backend technology coupled with the BillBachao app running on smartphones, and tells them the best tariff plans they should use and the best network they should be on based on their personalized profiles. The backend big data includes data crowd sourced from users, representing accurate usage and network quality data points which have never before been processed in India. All for empowering the consumer and ensuring they get the highest quality for their money.
“BillBachao stands for consumer empowerment, we give our users truly unbiased suggestions based on what is right for their own unique profiles. We want them to get the best value and experience on mobile.” - Jonathan Bill
In addition to the tariff and network recommendations, the BillBachao service has a very useful section on time saving tips and money saving tips which capture best practices on issues like international roaming, activation-deactivation of VAS services, activating ‘Do Not Disturb’, finding out your current prepaid balance and several other consumer pain points. Their app is available for Android users while others can avail their services through their web app too.
There have been such services in the past including the likes of Komparify from Chennai but getting that initial traction and educating users to use these services is going to the differentiator.
Will you use this service to help you, reduce your monthly mobile expenses?