'Mobiles phones next big ad avenue'

India will have 500 million mobile consumers by 2010 with 60 million mobile users having video capability, 100 million music capability, 200 million radio capability, 250 million camera capability and 250 million with internet capability.

These were some of the facts shared by D Shivakumar, vice-president and managing director, Nokia India, at the Goafest conclave.

He said, "Mobile phones are not just about voice anymore. Services delivered through mobiles would open up a big opportunity for the advertisers in India with a huge untapped potential."

He said that in the next three years, India would add one and a half times more mobile users than what it did in the last 10 years. It was the single largest durable sold in the country. Mobiles would be a great way for advertisers to reach those consumers.

On consumer spending, he said that it could be represented by ETC "� E for entertainment and education, T for transport and C for communication. It is on ETC, the consumers would be spending the most.

He classified Indian consumers into three categories "� one, who will pay more and get more (50 million), second, value buyers (150 million) and third, will pay less and get less (the rest of the consumers). The third category, says Shivakumar, is unique to India.

This is the section which signifies "Rich people buy big brands for vanity and poor people buy it for security."

It is hence a challenge for the Indian economy and advertisers to take this set of consumers to a higher level of spending.