MVAS revenue to touch Rs 671 bn by 2015

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Citing a recent study, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on Wednesday said telecom providers in the country are increasingly focusing on revenues from non-voice based services.

The study conducted by consulting firm Analysys Mason on mobile value-added services (MVAS) also said that VAS ARPU has increased by 48 per cent and the industry is poised for a a huge growth and it will reach Rs 671 billion by 2015. It was released here at an event on the evolution of MVAS in India organized by the IAMAI.

Dr Subho Ray, president of IAMAI, said this study is the first-ever of its kind that brings an analysis and insight into the evolution of the mobile value-added services in the country. The report, however, said that SMS penetration remains constrained due to the lack of standards-based solutions for local content.

The study also suggested that mobile data would emerge as the next killer app, accounting for 32 per cent incremental wireless revenues. Networking, instant messaging and microblogging are the emerging services within the MVAS. It also observed that QWERTY keyboards are getting installed into more handsets.

Addressing the event, Sachin Pilot, MoS for Communications and IT, said there should be local content in the services in order to penetrate into more regions.

The study also said the key challenges before the telecom companies include enablement of the local languages. “There is a need to mandate implementation of standards-based local languages solution on all handsets so that it can drive SMS penetration,” said Kunal Bajaj, partner and director (India) Analysys Mason.

According to Bajaj, there are various areas that have potential to increase VAS penetration that include enterprise, network community and mobile advertising.

Former NASSCOM head Kiran Karnik said that the applications for rural areas are minimal, though there is a huge potential and demand. Rural market is waiting to be explored.

'Entertainment to drive mobile Internet'

Rajan Anandan, MD at Google India, said that entertainment will be the driving factor for mobile Internet in the country. “The search on mobile devices is growing six times faster than PC Internet,” added Anandan.