Cell firms to offer more value-added services

The popularity of various valued-added offerings by cellular companies like the Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), ringtone downloads and Java-based games has sky-rocketed among users of all age groups. Cellular operators are now planning to offer more such value-added services (VAS) to boost their revenues.

Bharti is set to launch a host of new services next week. "We will launch a complete convergence solution, integrating music, movies and other entertainment inputs with mobile telephony," Mohit Bhatnagar, vice-president (new product development), Bharti Tele-Ventures, told Business Standard.

Revenue from the VAS segment is growing at a rate of 30-40 per cent a year. At present, revenues from this segment account for 10-13 per cent of the total revenue of service providers.

"We expect the revenues from VAS as a percentage of total revenue to touch 16-18 per cent by the end of 2004," Bhatnagar said.

With MMS and Java-enabled handsets being available at lower prices, the demand for these services is set to go up fast.

"The growth in the subscriber base for VAS can be attributed both to the increasing customer base, as well as to the increasing adaptability of the service," said Harit Nagpal, chief marketing officer, Hutchison.

In the last 90 days, Bharti's AirTel network saw a 300 per cent jump in the downloading of ring tones, Java-based games and other theme-based services.

Mobile gaming has become so popular that an average of 120,000 mobile games are being downloaded every month by Hutch users at present.