Mobile value-added services set to grow

As the mobile users' base grows at a scorching pace, which is predicted to reach 350 million by 2010, value-added service (VAS) providers are expanding the envelope to cover a wider gamut of services.

Estimated to account for nine per cent of the total mobility revenues in India, VAS is still dominated by SMS revenues.

However, analysts are optimistic that with the growth of data services under 2.5G and 3G, these services will grow exponentially over the next 3-4 years. And this already appears to be happening.

A look at Roamware's plans for the coming year, for instance, reveals that the company is introducing new services and 'NextGen' products.

Manoj Pant, managing director, Roamware India, is hopeful of leveraging his global ecosystem of partnerships with network operators for increasing its revenues from non roaming products. "By 2007, non-roaming products will account for 40-50 per cent of our overall revenues," he says.

Similarly, Bharti Telesoft, a Bharti Enterprises group company providing VAS services globally, is planning to launch products for 3G and also create an m-commerce platform for B2C and C2C transactions over the next 3-6 months.

Anil Gajwani, chief operating officer, Bharti Telesoft says, "Over the next three years, our new products and services will account for over 50 per cent of our revenues."

The strategy seems to have found favour with VAS player, Cellebrum as well. Saket Agarwal, Cellebrum COO, says, "We are now broadening our service offerings beyond roaming, messaging and VAS services like call back ring tones, background music and others to cover social networking like dating and chatting for mobile-to-mobile and landline-to-mobile users and identifying caller service. We will also launch mobile TV and video messaging services next year."

The company recently diversified into online games and is now launching a social network and community building platform for the mobile-to-mobile and PC-to-mobile space called Tadka Live.

Preferring to call the company a platform provider that manages content, call centre and Digital Right Management among other services, Sameer Bangara, CEO, Indiagames, says, "Currently, mobile accounts for 100 per cent of our revenues, but in the next 12-18 months it will account for 70-75 per cent as online games will account for 25-30 per cent of our revenues."

The innovative offerings are helping VAS players maintain their explosive growth rates even as telcos lower the call rates and squeeze their profitability margins. "We have been growing at a 100 per cent for the last two years and will maintain that this financial year also," says Gajwani.

Ditto for Cellebrum, which has been growing at 200 per cent for the last three years.

Agarwal notes, "These new service offerings along with our overseas expansion will ensure a growth rate of 100 per cent this fiscal as we grow from a Rs 50-crore company in 2005-06 to a Rs 100-crore company this fiscal year-end."