Perceived value of MVAS needs to be enhanced in the Indian consumer's mind which will lead to greater acceptability and usage.

The main reason for low ARPU is the increased competition in the telecom sector in the wake of low entry-barriers due to pricing and lack of differentiation of services among the operators. As subscriber volumes increase and new players enter, price wars rage not only to retain existing customers but also lure new ones, especially rural customers. This low ARPU has definitely put pressure on the operators' margins in 2009, but the revenues have been steadily growing which is attributed to the rapid growth in the number of subscribers.

On your growth plans in 2010

We recently signed up with MTNL Mumbai and Delhi, to deploy our Next Gen VAS-Platform offering 3G VASs. We are the first to launch 3G VAS services in India in multiple cities. We will focus on offering both content and non-content based services. We have already launched video SMS, video greetings, and 3G video conferencing. More 3G services will be launched in the next few months. The USP of our 3G VAS platform is that consumers can access all the services just on a video-call enabled 3G Phone. With our VAS Platform, operators can consolidate all their 2G & 3G services on a single platform.

On VAS trends

Businesses are now heavily concentrating on packaging of MVAS services such as social networking, Ad-CRBT, M-Commerce, etc, so that the perceived value of MVAS is enhanced in the Indian consumer's mind which will lead to greater acceptability and usage. The MVAS ecosystem has accommodated various players: content developers, content aggregators, technology enablers, short-code providers, handset manufacturers and mobile network operators. While mobile network operators command the highest share (60-80 percent), the rest of the players get a minor portion. Once the number of operators increases significantly, the revenue share of operators is expected to dilute.

On the latest initiatives

Our new technology offering is a video-based platform that can support 2.5G, 3G and NGN compliant networks. For example, Bay Talkitec's video platform enables users to receive videos via Video Call without the need to have GPRS or worries about phone memory issues, or bandwidth targeting the 3G market. Our 3G VAS platform can be deployed for a number of useful rural VAS applications such as mobile education, weather forecasts for farmers, etc. We are able to provide 3G services wherein a simple no frills 3G phone can be used to enjoy services like mobile TV, mobile education, video-on- demand, video SMS and more.

On green initiatives

With our 3G video greeting service, consumers can choose from a wide selection of animated or still greetings. This also comes with the option of adding a personalized message, which also has the option of being storing it in their inbox for later use. This environment-friendly 3G video greetings helps to save paper by reducing paper-based greeting cards.

On advent of MNP

If MNP is enabled in the Indian telecom industry, then it will become increasingly difficult for telecom operators to retain subscribers. This is due to the low switching-cost that a user may experience. Users can easily switch between operators and will have wavering loyalties. The cost to acquire an additional subscriber will become higher for operators. Hence, operators would have to look at innovative business models to sustain and grow marketshare. This may come in the form of exclusivity and accessibility to unique VASs which are difficult to duplicate by other operators.