Mobile Value Added Services - India

India’s telecom industry has shown strong growth. The primary reason for increasing revenues in this sector is due to the rise in wireless subscribers. Mobile phones are becoming more affordable and are viewed as a necessity today for instant communication. However, over the years the average revenue per unit (ARPU) accruing to operators has been falling, shifting emphasis to alternative means of revenue generation. This has led to growing interest in the mobile value added services (MVAS) market which is forecasted to grow by 39% annually from 2007-11.

The report begins with market overview including market size, growth and key segments. The revenue sharing model has been discussed coupled with the various delivery platforms available. A demand and supply side analysis of drivers explains factors contributing to the growth potential. The demand side drivers include increasing consumer demand, a growing medium for advertising, rising demand for regional content, growing rural market while on the supply side declining ARPU, rising mobile tele-density and the introduction of 3G based applications have boosted the market. The key challenges identified include a biased revenue sharing model, lack of awareness among consumers, dominance of prepaid customers, lack of copyright protection and authentication standards and feature rich handsets beyond the buying power of users.

The report identifies the existing trends in the Mobile VAS market including increase in PE/VC investments, growing demand for mobile music and mobile gaming, partnerships between mobile manufacturers/operators and MVAS players towards consolidating their positioning the market, the inorganic growth path adopted by major players and the growing demand from corporates for enterprise VAS.

The future outlook section discusses the various value-added services that are forecasted to grow coupled with their applicability and the corresponding user base. The major players, across the value chain, have been identified and an overview as well as the business outlook for each company has been provided.