We have been very conscious of the need to offer localized content services to the rural segment and we have launched many differentiated VAS services like Matrubhasha, regional news-covering topics like news, cricket, astro, ring-tones, songs, prayers, among others

Year 2009 was truly one of truimph for the Indian consumer. Customers saw transparent and honest pricing as a real draw. With our Pay for Exactly What You Use offer, we have changed the pricing paradigm and have ensured that subscribers get complete value for their money in a transparent manner. Pay-per-call was a unique and clutter-breaking offer that redefined customer usage and perception across industry segments. At the end of the day, it is innovation and service offerings that make a difference.As for the year 2009–2010, Tata Teleservices current ARPU is above the industry average.

On changes in VAS trend with respect to operators

The VAS market has grown by around 60 percent year-on-year and is estimated to touch Rs. 251 billion in FY 2009-10. This trend is expected to increase, as VAS services grow exponentially, giving operators a new revenue source. VAS is going to act as a differentiator for the operators. After 3G enrollment, VAS market will certainly get a substantial boost through delivery of rich media-content and services, thereby providing a greater user experience

Data services will also experience a surge in adoption and usage. The high-speed applications will open a lot of possibilities for innovative VAS-enabling, diverse, infotainment service opportunities.

The VAS market encompasses many trends, including mass downloads of Bollywood movies and music. That apart, rural VAS is something that is catching up. With increased competition, tariffs of voice calls have been gradually declining over the years. The popular-VAS today, comprises primarily SMS and content, such as ringtones and CRBT. A few of the telecom players have already taken the initiative for leveraging the opportunities in rural VAS.

On your latest initiatives

At Tata Teleservices, our VAS services remain constant across all user segments, be it an end user or the enterprise user. TTSL has been very conscious of the need to offer localized content services to the rural segment and we have launched many differentiated VAS services like Matrubhasha, regional news- covering topics like news, cricket, astro, ring-tones, songs, prayers, among others.

Mandi Bhav and English Seekho are some of our services targeting rural subscribers. Green Money Transfer is an unique person-to-person mobile money transfer service. The service is in association with Corporation Bank, and PayMate. On Tata DoCoMo we have ‘CoMix on-the-go' in collaboration with Zero-Sum Wireless Solutions. It is a unique first-time-ever innovation in mobile content, wherein, users will be able to read complete comics books on the mobile, along with special effects like character vibration, sounds, zooming text bubbles which magnify the blurbs for better reading and, above all, downloads smoothly on a 2.5 Edge Network.

On change in market dynamics with advent of MNP

Tata Teleservices Limited network is ready for number portability and we can switch over whenever the government moves ahead with it Users have reason to celebrate, as do companies like Tata Teleservices,
which has been pushing for MNP implementation for long.