Does It Make Sense To Go With Airtel Wynk? How Other Telecom Operators Should Respond To The Musical Outbreak

As said before there are a lot of music streaming and downloading services available today in India. And some of them are really good. On Tuesday we saw the launch of Airtel Wynk in an already crowded online audio streaming market. This can be named as a play to ramp up the data consumption on Airtel’s mobile network, which most mobile service providers are trying to do these days.

So how will other telecom operators like Vodafone, Reliance and Idea respond to this new music aficionado? We have seen, on numerous occasions in the past, that when a telecom operator starts giving a service, others follow the suit. It will be a classic build vs buy vs partner conundrum for them. The first two options will have higher turnaround time for rolling out a robust product. Alternatively, Vodafone or Reliance could very well go with a deep-rooted platform, like Gaana, available on the mobile and PC to get hold of a ready-to-use customer base.

This will enable service providers like Idea, Reliance, Aircel and Vodafone to quickly setup their shops. Moreover, this will also reduce the head ache of getting an app or software ready for their customers. By using an existing platform they can readily package and sell it to the subscriber base.

Audio suppliers such as Gaana (who has more than 3 million songs, when compared to 1.7 million that Wynk has) has a strong hold in the segment and is catering to large audiences all across India and the globe. So why should one choose the new service Wynk Music over others?

Well, in our opinion Airtel is not offering anything out-of-the box. The application’s interface is nothing new and boasts of playlist features that we have seen before. Moreover, the audio library is nowhere near the competition. Yes, Airtel might package it as a value added service for its customers in the future. But right now, it is a new service and people are generally apprehensive to try something new. Today’s consumers, at least on the online and mobile platforms, are very educated. They just don’t swing from one app to the other, unless there is a drastic change or a better offering in the new one. They keep on using the tried and tested few.

Disclaimer: Times Internet, which runs Business Insider India, also runs Gaana, one of the services discussed in this article