In a statement announcing a deal with Facebook and Whatsapp, Morten Karlsen Sorby, the nominated CEO of Uninor, has said that the company is changing the way it is approaching selling data services to customers: "We are moving out of data and moving in to Internet. Internet is the way in which customers consume data and our approach will be to make that usage the cheapest among all operators," adding that "Selling Internet as rupees per MB is like selling air or train tickets as rupees per kilometre. What customers do with Internet is to use it for services like Facebook or Whatsapp. Our plan is to make these services the cheapest on Uninor. For us, internet will always be about affordability and relevance, Sorby added. Yesterday, Uninor announced plans to offer Facebook at Rs 0.5 per hour and Rs. 1 for a day of Whatsapp. As analogies go, this is a terrible one as people don't use just one service or website in a day. This is unlike an airplane or train ticket which people buy when they have to travel to a destination, which is rare, in comparison. Maybe Sorby can also explain why the company charges for voice calls per second or per voice minute, since that is also similar to selling air or train tickets as rupees per kilometre. Why don't they also charge customers on the basis of who they're calling? That's an approach similar to charging customers for data on the basis of which app…
