RCL forays into global cell content distribution

Reliance Communications is setting its sights on distribution of mobile content to service providers across the globe, a sector that is expected to post $20 billion by the end of 2008.

The Anil Ambani group company is in talks with leading mobile operators across the world, even as it has signed up with a Canadian mobile operator "" Telus "" for the foray.

To begin with, Reliance Communications will look at providing content to immigrant Asian population residing in countries such as US, UK, Canada, Middle East, Singapore and Malaysia, sources close to the development told Business Standard here today.

The telephony major intends to offer ringtones, music, devotional songs, wallpapers of blockbuster and classic movies, games, caller ring back tones (CRBTs) and movie clip downloads among others.

It is estimated that there are over 1 billion ethnic Asians residing in these countries.

When contacted, a Reliance Communications spokesperson said, "We continually endeavour to increase business potential of existing services in new geographies and new services in existing geographies".

According to industry analysts, the demand for mobile content is expected to be in the tune of $20 billion by 2008 end, of which South Asian content is expected to have a 15 per cent share.

"Even a 10 per cent of the global South Asian content market would mean a windfall for the Anil Ambani controlled Reliance Communications, contributing over Rs 1,000 crore to the topline from global mobile content distribution alone in addition to the domestic earnings from the same content," they said.

The company is looking at tying up with major players across the world and is believed to have initiated talks with T-Mobile and AT&T in US, Vodafone and Orange in UK, Singapore Telecom Mobile in Singapore and Telekom Malaysia in Malaysia.

The spokesperson declined to reveal the names of the companies Reliance Communications was in talks with, but admitted that it has signed an agreement with Telus.

Under the tie-up, the companies will jointly set up a mobile content portal 'Apna Des', on which around 200 applications have already been hosted. Reliance Communications had developed over 2,300 applications, which are accessible over Reliance Mobile World.

Telus has over 10 million mobile subscribers in Canada, of which 1 million are of South Asian origin. The tie-up entails a flat fee for establishing the content portal and revenue share on a pre-agreed percentage.

The revenue share could range widely from a low of 25 per cent for generic content to as high as 80 per cent for premium content.