With telcos bidding fiercely in the 3G auction, they have started preparing the pitch for data services. Many of them, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone, are offering browsing and download facilities at 10 paisa per kilobyte (kb) to their postpaid subscribers. To tap subscribers in the prepaid segment, they have introduced small internet cards, giving them a feel of mobile internet.
This, according to the telcos, is a medium to give the subscribers the first-hand experience of the mobile internet usage. A spurt in social networking sites and handsets (with large screens and QWERTY keypad) are some of reasons driving mobile internet business. Currently, values added services (VAS) and data comprise 10-12% of an operator?s revenue. As per mobile advertising network AdMob, mobile web traffic in India has crossed the 1-billion-per-month mark.
Increase in mobile internet usage will also give relief to the ever- declining average revenue per user (ARPU) per month. ?With the drop in voice revenues, mobile operators must aim to increase the uptake of mobile internet services and revenues to defend their ARPU,? says analyst Bhavya Khanna from ABI Research. ?Mobile data traffic has exploded in the past two years, and is expected to expand at a CAGR of over 40% from 2009-15. Operators can cash in on this demand by enlarging their mobile broadband coverage,? he added.