The VAS space, currently dominated by text and picture messages, along with ringtones and data downloads, has in itself driven the user to maximising these services. The reason, according to Durbha, has a lot to do with impulse usage. Instantly he takes out a handset, clicks a picture and sends it across to this reporter’s e-mail address. The process, as simple as counting 1 to 5, but what held attention was that the entire operation was done through a phone costing just Rs.4000.
“We’ve got 10.2 million ‘unique’ users, who only sample our VAS, less than 5 times a month. Probably this number exceeds the total number of subscribers of many service providers across the world,” says Durbha. For now, the future seems brighter than ever before. With Reliance now foraying into the GSM bracket, it seems all set to duplicate its tactics and win itself another enthusiastic horde!
In India, the mobile VAS industry, according to IAMAI, expectedly hit the billion dollar mark by December 2007 and in that figure, we see a jump of nearly 60% over December 2006. Currently the most optimistic figures put VAS at 12-15% of revenues of a mobile service provider. As Mahesh Prasad, President, Applications & Solutions Group, RCOM, puts it, “If Japanese and Koreans can derive 25-30% of revenues from VAS, there is no reason we cannot.” Concludes Durbha, “There are a lot of clichés involved when we talk about the future of mobile phone services and in particular about VAS... Unfortunately, they’ve all become much over-hyped. But, eventually, under all that hype is a reality.” And surely there is little doubt now that RCOM has moved far beyond the company that broke the lower end of the price barrier to provide mobile services that were ‘cheaper than a post card.
“We’ve got 10.2 million ‘unique’ users, who only sample our VAS, less than 5 times a month. Probably this number exceeds the total number of subscribers of many service providers across the world,” says Durbha. For now, the future seems brighter than ever before. With Reliance now foraying into the GSM bracket, it seems all set to duplicate its tactics and win itself another enthusiastic horde!
In India, the mobile VAS industry, according to IAMAI, expectedly hit the billion dollar mark by December 2007 and in that figure, we see a jump of nearly 60% over December 2006. Currently the most optimistic figures put VAS at 12-15% of revenues of a mobile service provider. As Mahesh Prasad, President, Applications & Solutions Group, RCOM, puts it, “If Japanese and Koreans can derive 25-30% of revenues from VAS, there is no reason we cannot.” Concludes Durbha, “There are a lot of clichés involved when we talk about the future of mobile phone services and in particular about VAS... Unfortunately, they’ve all become much over-hyped. But, eventually, under all that hype is a reality.” And surely there is little doubt now that RCOM has moved far beyond the company that broke the lower end of the price barrier to provide mobile services that were ‘cheaper than a post card.
For Complete IIPM Article, Click on IIPM Article
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008
An IIPM and Professor Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist) Initiative
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