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VAS is HOT!
Don’t be stunned if the
voice-based service in
your mobile will be a
freebie in the next few
years and you will be
paying only for VAS, such
as SMS, MMS, Internet,
Email, games, TV, and
ticket booking and even
for paying all your bills
over your mobile.
Value Added Services (VAS), which includes a bundle of non-voice based data services, act as enablers that boost the plummeting Average Revenue per User (ARPU) of operators. The ARPU, which was Rs.1, 000 plus per month in the year 2000, had plunged to about Rs.200 recently.
The advent of new networks, high bandwidth availability, transition from circuit-switched to packet networks, and upgrades in handset standards and technologies that support new formats (3G, SIP) that are happening on a global scale are increasingly creating more space to exploit VAS as an important commercial opportunity. People now widely use their handsets to play games, download ring tones, read news alerts, access the Internet, listen to music, access information from banks, check exam results, book tickets for movies, trains, and flights, participate in contests, and view one touch ads, amongst others.
Currently India has over 300 million are mobile subscribers and this is growing by 8 million a month and is expected to reach a staggering 500 million by 2011. According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), the total size of the mobile VAS market is estimated to be about $1.2 billion and is growing by 50-65 percent every year. SMS contributes to 55 percent of VAS, though it has started slumping now. Hence the telecom companies are betting big on music, the principal money-spinner after SMS. Caller ring back tones (CRBTs) have a 15-25 percent market share, followed by ring tones that have a share of 15-20 percent, while the remaining portion of revenues can be attributed to full song downloads. But, currently, VAS contributes only 10 percent of the mobile operator’s revenues and is expected to increase to approximately 20 percent by 2009.
Prospectus for VAS is huge. Mobile advertising will be a colossal opportunity as it reaches the individual directly and can help in generating immediate leads. On the content side, local language content is hot prospect for VAS. Onmobile got an overwhelming response to its vernacular WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and registered an average of two downloads per minute! As mobile gaming is hot opportunity emerging, estimates by NASSCOM and the U.S. research firm InStat/MDR says that India’s wireless-game market will generate annual revenue of $336 million by 2009.
In rural areas local content on VAS would be key to growth. For example, a farmer would be interested to know the mandi price in his area, rather than quotes from remote cities. SMS interactivity is now becoming an integral part of most of the TV shows and Newspapers in India. Alongside, location based services, car pooling, GPS, TV serial updates, SMS for public services, mobile dating, remotely controlled applications, voice morphing services targeting children, and mobile-search are really some of the hot prospects under VAS.
Value Added Services (VAS), which includes a bundle of non-voice based data services, act as enablers that boost the plummeting Average Revenue per User (ARPU) of operators. The ARPU, which was Rs.1, 000 plus per month in the year 2000, had plunged to about Rs.200 recently.
The advent of new networks, high bandwidth availability, transition from circuit-switched to packet networks, and upgrades in handset standards and technologies that support new formats (3G, SIP) that are happening on a global scale are increasingly creating more space to exploit VAS as an important commercial opportunity. People now widely use their handsets to play games, download ring tones, read news alerts, access the Internet, listen to music, access information from banks, check exam results, book tickets for movies, trains, and flights, participate in contests, and view one touch ads, amongst others.
Currently India has over 300 million are mobile subscribers and this is growing by 8 million a month and is expected to reach a staggering 500 million by 2011. According to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), the total size of the mobile VAS market is estimated to be about $1.2 billion and is growing by 50-65 percent every year. SMS contributes to 55 percent of VAS, though it has started slumping now. Hence the telecom companies are betting big on music, the principal money-spinner after SMS. Caller ring back tones (CRBTs) have a 15-25 percent market share, followed by ring tones that have a share of 15-20 percent, while the remaining portion of revenues can be attributed to full song downloads. But, currently, VAS contributes only 10 percent of the mobile operator’s revenues and is expected to increase to approximately 20 percent by 2009.
Prospectus for VAS is huge. Mobile advertising will be a colossal opportunity as it reaches the individual directly and can help in generating immediate leads. On the content side, local language content is hot prospect for VAS. Onmobile got an overwhelming response to its vernacular WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) and registered an average of two downloads per minute! As mobile gaming is hot opportunity emerging, estimates by NASSCOM and the U.S. research firm InStat/MDR says that India’s wireless-game market will generate annual revenue of $336 million by 2009.
In rural areas local content on VAS would be key to growth. For example, a farmer would be interested to know the mandi price in his area, rather than quotes from remote cities. SMS interactivity is now becoming an integral part of most of the TV shows and Newspapers in India. Alongside, location based services, car pooling, GPS, TV serial updates, SMS for public services, mobile dating, remotely controlled applications, voice morphing services targeting children, and mobile-search are really some of the hot prospects under VAS.
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