Indian Value Added Services Industry to be Rs. 21,000 Crore by 2013

According to Industry experts who congregated at *7th VAS INDIA 2010*, the Indian Value Added Services (VAS) industry is expected  to touch a turnover of over Rs. 21,000 Crore by the year 2013. The event was organised by Bharat Exhibitions at Taj Lands End, Mumbai.

Mr. Subhash Dhar, Member Executive Council and Group Head – Sales and
Marketing, Infosys* quoted in his keynote speech that till now Internet was
considered a radical phenomenon but now the Mobile is all set to create a
similar revolution. Mobile Value Added Services are about to create a huge
buzz in the market for the masses.”The point was supported by *Mr. Uday
Sodhi, Chief Executive Officer, Balaji Telefilms* “The current Average
Revenue per User (*ARPU*) lingers around 8-9% however by the end of this
year we shall see a rise to about 12-14% with an extensive increase to
nearly Rs. 11,000 Crore.” “The future of businesses will be driven by
broader digital engagement with their consumers and will act as a catalyst
in the future economy” according to *Mr. Dhar*. He further added that all
ecosystem players will have to join hands to bring Mobile Value Added
Services to the masses.

With over more than 500 Million mobile phone users in the country,
penetration to various areas with multilingual diversities and providing vast
content like games, applications, astrology, Mobile banking etc. and related
services is a challenge which has to be accomplished. The emphasis was on
the 3G/4G aspect and providing faster access like broadband availability to
take MVAS further. *Mr. Shyam Mardikar, Sr. Vice President – Networks,
Bharti Airtel Limited* said “Telecom is a mature business and the consumer
is choosy, quality of services needs to be refined, optimised and
manifestation of existing services has to be done”.

*Shri. SS Sirohi, Principal General Manager & Head, VAS, Bharat Sanchar
Nigam Limited* spoke about mobile banking transactions focus on volumes and
diverse content provisioning, mobile advertising, Location based services
like GPRS which are in their initial stages. Nearly 7.5 Lakh customers are
using 3G BSNL, currently available in 300 cities and the target is to spread
it to 700 cities by July 2010. 50 Million ringtones are downloaded every
month. The Indian Premier League shall be merging with Youtube and the
cricket match can be viewed from the cell phone with a staggering 36 camera
view options. The speed of 3G is 3.5Mbps if the download speed is enhanced
or the bandwidth is increased, user will have an enriched experience by
downloading movies, games, and utilities at a faster rate. He added, new
customers, new platforms, new generators, new operators are joining the
market everyday so the opportunity is tremendous.

The MVAS will bring about a change in lifestyle of the common man according
to *Mr. Lloyd Mathias, President & Chief Marketing Officer, Tata
Teleservices Limited,* he elaborated his point by giving an example of a
fisherman from Kerala who has to sell his fish to the dealer at the rate at
which the dealer pays him, however with the introduction of MVAS, he will be
able to get the best deal available. The *chief guest* in the conference *Mr.
RN Prabhakar, Member, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, (TRAI)* had a
similar opinion and focussed on how MVAS has become so important and
innovative for the telecom operators with the intense competition bringing
down the ARPU and the tariff. Finally he concluded the speech saying “MVAS
will bring about a huge change and improve the living standards for all the
classes and the market is just ripe for bringing about and to be a part of
the change”.