Indian telecom companies, that have spend a handsome amount of Rs 68,000 crore for the recently concluded 3G auctions, are bracing up themselves on the value added services (VAS). According to them, innovative content, improved customer services and increased affordability of 3G handsets will drive the penetration of 3G in the urban areas in the next one to two years. ?India has a huge 2G market. It will be interesting for consumers to experience how we as operators package and significantly converge services from 2G to 3G,? said Pallab Mitra, head 3G, product marketing, Tata DoCoMo.
Crisil expects the India?s total wireless subscriber base to reach 850-900 million by the year 2013-14, of which 12-15% will be on 3G network. The potential of players to introduce killer applications will ensure a premium of 10-15% on 3G services. ?Our estimate of 3G subscriber base is about 100 million by the fifth year of operation. Average revenue per user (ARPU) premium over 2G services would be at least 15%,? said Manoj Mohta, head, Crisil Research.
In the difficult times of declining average revenue per user (ARPUs), shrinking minutes of usage (MoUs) and plummeting revenue per minute (RPMs), innovative VAS offering by the telcos will come to their revenue rescue. As per J Gopal, executive director, MTNL, Mumbai, private operators launching 3G services will help to spread awareness regarding 3G services and thus boost 3G subscriber base in the country. ?The usage of VAS with 3G and BWA also offers us the opportunity to adopt differential pricing strategies for video content and cater to both mass and niche market demands,? added Gopal at a recent conference on VAS and BWA (broadband wireless access).
According to experts, the Indian VAS market, including messaging, mobile internet, social networking and mobile payments, stood at Rs 16,650 crore in 2009 and is expected to cross Rs 21,940 crore this year. ?Mobile operators would need to develop sophisticated segmentation models to drive focused sales and marketing efforts. Localised and customised content is absolutely critical to draw in and sustain usage of data services?, said Prashant Chopra, director, Deloitte Consulting, India.
Along with 3G, BWA will also bring in major shift in the way data is consumed. ?These technologies have an economical evolution path. With advancements, voice would also be transmitted on BWA technology. Also with 3G and BWA, demand for increasing backhauling capacity and data farming will increase,? said Munir Sayyad , head, Reliance Technology Innovation and Interoperability test Lab, Reliance Communications.