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Mobile services better, Airtel continues to lead: TNS Celltrack report
MUMBAI: The mobile telephony sector in India is not just growing but service providers seem to be getting better at meeting customer expectations. According to the latest annual TNS CellTrack 2006 study, the already high TRI*M index for the industry – the metric that measures the strength of the ‘subscriber-service provider relationship‘ – got even better, and is today at 82, up from 79 in 2005. The performance of the Indian mobile industry measured by their ability to anticipate and meet customer expectations has been increasing consistently over time. From an industry average TRI*M Index of 55 in 2000, the Indian mobile industry has surely come a long way. |
Airtel not only retained its number one position among the national players (see Figure 2), but also scored better, with the TRI*M Index up from 82 in 2005 to 90 this year. Hutch has also managed to improve their performance significantly and stays at second place, while Reliance with a TRI*M Index of 83 (80 in 2005) is third. Idea, BSNL and Tata Teleservices, have maintained performance but are significantly below the industry average of 82. Among the regional players, the big surprise is MTNL – dislodging Spice to become the best regional player with a TRI*M Index of 100. |
TNS India head of telecom practice Abraham Karimpanal says, “While it could be argued, and rightly so that MTNL is attracting a different profile of subscribers with different set of expectations, this war is all about each operator understanding and /or crafting, and then managing their subscribers‘ expectations. Whether by design or otherwise, MNTL has surpassed all others at it.” TNS CellTrack 2006 also tracks the evolving brand choice and purchase behaviour for handsets among the Indian mobile users. Nokia continues to dominate the GSM market, with a 79 per cent market share. Motorola is the brand that has been able to significantly improve its share by almost doubling from three per cent in 2005 to seven per cent in 2006. Motorola‘s gain is possibly Samsung‘s loss as their market share has dropped from six per cent in 2005 to four per cent in 2006. LG has consolidated its position as the market leader in the CDMA handset market. The current 49 per cent market share is an improvement of over 43 per cent market share LG had in 2005. While Nokia managed to retain its share of the CDMA handsets, Samsung and Motorola have lost market share from 17 per cent to eight per cent and 12 per cent to four per cent respectively |
Applications
With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
