Voice is Kinng?

For millions of years, mankind lived just

like the animals. Then something
happened which unleashed the power of
our imaginations, we learned to talk.
- Stephen Hawking

http://www.pluggd.in
State of Current VAS Industry

 VAS constitutes ~7-10% of of total

telecom revenue for Indian operators.
 Digital music (including CRBT and
ringtones) constitutes 35% of VAS
revenue.

http://www.pluggd.in
VAS Revenue Split

 P2P SMS: 35%

 CRBT: 25%
 IVR : 15%
 Downloads: 10%
 SMS Subs: 5%
 P2A (Peer to App) SMS + Misc: 10%

http://www.pluggd.in
Entities in VAS Value Chain
 Content/Application Owner - cos. like saregama/mauj/Rajshri who develop
coyrighted content

 Aggregator - aggregates content like games/wallpapers/ringtones and distributes

it to suit customer needs [players : mauj, hungama mobile, indiatimes mobile etc]

 Software developer - develops applications (like payment/games/middleware etc.)

for mobile VAS [players - mchek/July systems/webaroo/affle etc]

 Technology Enabler - provides the platform that plugs into telco networks and acts
like a bridge between aggregator and telcos [players include OnMobile, cellnext.
mauj etc]

Operators still dominate the revenue sharing arrangement in VAS .

Of the amount paid by end users, 60-70% is kept by operator, aggregator gets 20-
25% and content app/owner gets 10-15% of the revenue]

http://www.pluggd.in
Entities in VAS Value Chain..

http://www.pluggd.in
VAS Portfolio

http://www.pluggd.in
Perspectives..Numbers

 Prepaid connection comprise ~85% of

total subscriber base
 Almost half of Indians use ULCH (Ultra
Low Cost Handsets)
 30% of mobile subscribers in India have
opted for caller tune services

http://www.pluggd.in
More Perspectives/Numbers..

 Approx 60% of mobile content

downloaded in South India is in local
languages
 50% of all prepaid mobile phones have
less than Rs. 40 balance at any point of
time
 ~45% of the target population cannot
afford to pay much for VAS products

http://www.pluggd.in
Challenges

 Sliding ARPUs
 BoP segment
 Not comfortable with SMS
 English isn’t the most prominent language.

 Multiple dialects

http://www.pluggd.in
VAS Success Strategy

 Sachet Pricing
[E.g.: 10 Rs. Recharge Coupon.]

 Bundling
[E.g: Virgin:MySpace, Spice Mobile:
ibibo, Email2SMS; LG: RockeTalk, ]

http://www.pluggd.in
VAS-tu Shastra..
 Reuters Market Light - a short messaging service
costing 60 rupees ($1.50) a month.
 100,000 three- month subscriptions
 Nano Ganesh
 Priced between Rs.560 and Rs.1700, about 5,000 farmers
are using the application.
 Nokia LifeTools
 Local Information on seeds/crops etc
 Sends subscribers an English word each day, explaining how
it’s pronounced and what it means in the user’s native
language.
 Each of these packages could cost between Rs 25 and Rs 50
a month

http://www.pluggd.in
Nascent Market..

 Local Search
 Airtel receives 500,000 queries a month.
 BPL’s Mumbai search receives 800 local
queries a day
 3G Mirage
 Will accelerate Mobile Internet
 VAS Operators/MVNOs will drive the
growth.

http://www.pluggd.in
Is Voice the Kinng?

VAS is currently limited to

urban area primarily
driven by entertainment
content.
 30% of New Mobile
Users from Rural India [Q2 2008 Report]
 Mobile handsets costing less than $50 account
for 62 per cent of all imported units.

http://www.pluggd.in
Is Voice the Kingg?

 SMS, MMS, CRBT, and GPRS would fail

 Regional/Rural IVR seen as a major
opportunity 
 But where is the compelling content?
 Competition : SMS?

http://www.pluggd.in
Voice – VAS Challenges

 Opportunity: Rural, the untapped market.

 Rural Services : E.g.: Mobile Payments
(cashnxt).

 Challenge: Voice Recognition – Not a

single engine understands different
dialects.

http://www.pluggd.in
Thank You!

http://www.pluggd.in
Source

 PluGGd.in
 Emergic
 BDA

http://www.pluggd.in