Prepaid, bill payment, and app stores are the most-pursued mobile payment segments by service providers in India, avers Avi Schechter, President-APAC Division, Amdocs Australia Pty Ltd (http://bit.ly/F4TAviS), based on a survey into value-added service trends and consumer behaviour in the Asia-Pacific.

Further down in the list are virtual goods (such as Facebook credits), ticketing (say, for movies), peer-to-peer money transfer, and merchandise purchase at the point of sale, he adds, during an interaction with Business Line , at the Amdocs InTouch Business Forum 2011 recently held in Singapore.

Our interaction continues over email. Excerpts from the interview:

How does the Indian telecom market perform, in terms of revenues, compared with other markets in the region, and the rest of the world?

The Indian communications market has gained recognition as one of the most lucrative markets globally, and is contributing significantly to India's economy.

In 1995, India had a mobile subscriber base of only 75,000. In the past year alone, the number of Indian service providers grew from seven to 15, and today India is second only to China in terms of mobile subscriber counts, racing towards the 800-million mark.

This growth is fuelled predominantly by voice services consumption.

In terms of data services consumption, India has one of the lowest, non-voice revenue mix globally, with the bulk of the data revenue coming from SMS services. This denotes a strong potential for the future.

Indian service providers are also well-ranked in market valuations. The adoption of ‘managed services' working models, whereby they outsource non-core operations to IT specialists, has enabled them to significantly reduce their OPEX (operational expenditure).

What are the major changes you foresee in the Indian telecom market?

The Indian communications space is undergoing fast change.

The sharp tariff cuts from Rs 2 in 2007 to 1 paisa in 2010 – the lowest tariffs in the world, and the entrance of eight new players into the marketplace, raising the number of local service providers to 15, are driving intense competition over services, price plans, and over the customer experience.

On top of that, consumers' growing need to be connected perpetually is driving mass adoption of smartphones, as well as other connected devices, such as netbooks, tablets, cars, smart home and healthcare solutions.

Global shipments of smartphones reached 250 million in 2010, with every one in five phones sold being a smartphone.

The growing numbers of connected devices are leading the Indian marketplace to rapid technological advancements in mobile broadband and growth in data usage volumes. As they fight over market share, Indian service providers are racing to introduce new 3G and 4G services, innovative price plans and better customer service.

To achieve this, they are today looking to reduce time-to-market of new and advanced services and increase operational efficiencies through system modernisation.

Research reveals that the adoption of ‘managed services' is growing faster in developing Asia than anywhere else in the world, with India being one of the major investors.

Indian service providers are now also looking beyond market share objectives at retention and data monetisation strategies. They need to keep their most profitable customers loyal and be able to monetise the growing data usage to return their massive investments in high-speed networks.

> dmurali@thehindu.co.in

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