Value Added Services have a Future
VAS or value added service is the core network in the control part of telecommunication network which provides various services to the customers.
The 15th annual exhibition and conference of VAS Asia held on 11th July in New Delhi threw light on the incoming challenges in the VAS world and also how to overcome them to generate good revenue. The conference cum exhibition was inaugurated by prominent personalities from the telecommunication and business world. The seminar started with a positive response towards the first Union budget presented by current NDA government and its effect on the VAS Industry.
Ranked 1st as the most densely populated countries in the world, India is a huge market for the telecommunication industry. With a phenomenal increase in the number of subscribers, the M- VAS or Mobile VAS has shown excessive growth in the recent few years. With easy and cheap access of mobile phones, the Value Added Services have flourished like weeds. Tremendous use of cell phones has attracted the investors to invest more in this field. These days’ people sitting at home prefer everything to be done with just one click. The VAS has changed a lot over the years, earlier it was more focused on revenue generation with the SMSs’ but now as the world is advancing fast and the world has become a global village, the VAS has also been changing its services unlike before. Now, it’s totally based on internet and applications rule the VAS world.
Telecom experts and service providers mentioned that the 2014-15 budget proposals have raised hopes of a fresh comeback in the mobile telecom sector. The VAS sector is undergoing change from voice to data centric customers due to rapid adaptation to smart phones and tablets. People have become more net-savvy and want to get things done within a blink of an eye. M-health, M-banking and M-commerce are all becoming very popular these days as majority of the health companies and banks are providing services through mobiles for the convenience of the customers.
“VAS is a cross road,” said Mr. Madhusudan Narayanan, Vice President – Marketing, OnMobile Global Limited, explaining the challenges faced in the revenue generation for the VAS Industry, he further added “Free is the new price, people want everything for free if they can access anything for free they do not want to pay.” However, giving a solution he stated, “Though people want everything for free, still they are ready to pay for the services they find worthy,” the most important factor in maintaining a business is to engage its customers and maintaining the trust of the customers if any business wants to run for long.
Approximately, seventy percent of Indian population is based in the rural areas and with the reach of mobile phones the want of applications in regional languages is the need of the hour. The progress of VAS to a wider market range will increase the revenue income. Launching applications in regional languages will also help the rural people to get access to the applications and services which they were not able to enjoy due to the language barrier. Few VAS services available in the regional area like, “Behtar Zindagi” also proved to be of great potential moreover, the application’s content was a huge hit in Rajasthan.
“M-VAS still earns its major revenue from the ABC category i.e. A-Astrology, B- Bollywood, C- Cricket. There is a need to expand its area. With everything moving to mobile environment, a new industry is emerging,” said Mr. Ram Yagya, Advisor (Operation) Department of Telecommunications. M-gaming is also an emerging factor; it has potential of earning $ 14.3 billion by the end of this decade, while it earned $ 2 billion in 2010.
“M-VAS still earns its major revenue from the ABC category i.e. A-Astrology, B- Bollywood, C- Cricket. There is a need to expand its area. With everything moving to mobile environment, a new industry is emerging,” said Mr. Ram Yagya, Advisor (Operation) Department of Telecommunications. M-gaming is also an emerging factor; it has potential of earning $ 14.3 billion by the end of this decade, while it earned $ 2 billion in 2010.
India is getting globalized in its economy, the online commerce and user experience made it mandatory for the country to standardize its service in collaboration with other European countries. There is a great future for VAS in India and it will benefit both, the government as well as the consumers.
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