Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS) has the potential to become a Rs 67,100-crore market by 2015 contributing to 31 per cent of overall wireless revenues according to a report from Analysys Mason.

This growth will be driven mainly by mobile data (both on handsets and dongles/connected computing devices) contributing 54 per cent of the overall MVAS market by 2015.

Non-voice revenues are expected to contribute 51 per cent to the overall incremental wireless revenues in 2015, according to the IAMAI-Analysys Mason Vision Document on Mobile VAS.

Mr Kunal Bajaj, Partner and Director India, Analysys Mason, said, “Carriers are under tremendous pressure from competition and declining ARPUs, leading to stunted revenue growth. Based on recent trends in the sector, now is the right time for them to increase focus on the VAS space to find new opportunities for differentiation and earnings.”

The report stated that off-deck VAS providers face issues from the lack of an alternate billing mechanism and delays in allocation and implementation of short codes. Off-deck providers are VAS companies that use carrier infrastructure and billing for their products and services, but the marketing and branding is independent of the mobile operators.

“We recommend a premium number policy that can potentially provide an alternate payment mechanism by allowing the flexibility to control end user pricing of their services, be aware of their share of the end user revenue and be guaranteed that their services will work across all carriers,” the report said.

According to the report SMS penetration remains constrained due to the lack of standards based solutions for local language text on devices.

“We recommend the standardisation of a character set and incorporation of local language support on devices to drive SMS uptake and utility,” it said.

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