Thinking customer, lifetime, value.

Byline: Venkat Mallik

Number portability, dropping ARPUs and a market approaching saturation present a challenging opportunity for cellular service providers.

I met one among millions of mobile users in India -- a salaried employee who bills around Rs 3,000 per month on his post-paid connection. He has been with his service provider for over five years now, but applied to port out of the network (via mobile number portability/MNP) early this month. He was infuriated by some 'moments of truth' at the customer care centres, and livid with a 'Relationship Manager' calling him (despite requests not to) to ask if he was facing any problems with his connection.

The era of growth by acquisitions is fast coming to an end. There is no better time than now to focus on Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). A number of categories are beginning to experience the pressures born of not focusing on CLV, the most obvious …