Volumes to cut mobile value addition cost

The outgoing call charges of mobile phones has fallen drastically from Rs 3 to less than a rupee in the past few years, but the charges of value-added services (VAS) excluding SMS remains at a high Rs 7 and above. Service provider Hutch believes that only volumes can bring down the cost of VAS.

Of the total 17 million Hutch users across the country, only 25 per cent use VAS including ringtones, callertunes, games, themes, wallpapers, singtones and many other services apart from SMSes, said Balesh Sharma, VP-sales and marketing operations, Gujarat circle, Hutch.

He also said that the voice revenue of users accessing VAS is much higher. "The rest 75 per cent mobile users' voice revenue is comparatively less," said Sharma.

According to Sharma, the number of VAS users is increasing simultaneously with mobile phone users. "The number of VAS users in urban areas is growing fast," said Sharma.

At the launch of Fun Cards in Gujarat, Sharma said, "Due to some reasons, mobile users are not accessing VAS."

Though a wide range of content is available, people don't know how to access it or download it. However, cost of VAS is also a major factor for which mobile users don't prefer to access VAS."