Role diversification

After going all out with the message that phones are for talking, Tata Indicom has new ideas.

If Tata Indicom's ad campaign convinced you that "phones are to meant for talking", then the company is ready to shatter that perception.

Tata Indicom is set to launch a slew of value-added services that include audio, video and game streaming, early next month. And, yes, these services would be best when viewed/heard on higher-end mobile phones.

Though a little late to this business, Tata Indicom now promises Bollywood music, video clips and songs straight from its servers.

"The service would be available on mobile sets that have audio and video streaming features," says Pankag Sethi, vice-president, value added services, Tata Teleservices.

Sethi hopes that mobile TV will become a reality in India soon. "While mobile TV services are not yet available in India "" content and privacy issues hound this segment "" we hope to generate public momentum by talking about it."

While Indians warm to the concept, Tata hopes to cash on with subscription-based value added services. The CDMA service has 8.2 million customers in India, and is optimistic that even those with plain functional phones (unsurprisingly the vast majority of its base) will avail of the music facility.

"The audio streaming facility would enable users to log on to our servers and listen to music without having to download the heavy MP3 files, which invariably occupies lot of memory," says Sethi.

In keeping with its affordability pitch as a brand, the services are priced at some Rs 15-29 per music channel. How often would the playlist be updated?

"Every day, and with newer additions in the playlists, we would look to source newer content from our entertainment partners," he assures.

And music, Sethi is convinced, has huge appeal in the counrty across assorted socioeconomic segments. "It is a general belief that the lower segment user does not spend money in downloading, but this is not at all true," he insists.