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Strategic Thought Transformation - The IIPM Think Tank

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S T R A T E G I C I N S I G H T<br />

revenue, but it is expected to grow rapidly,<br />

at 30-40 percent annually. <strong>The</strong> challenge is<br />

to convert the simple SMS service to more<br />

sophisticated VAS services.<br />

In India as in many other nations, voice<br />

still generates almost 90 percent of revenue,<br />

while value-added services (VAS)<br />

do not yet add significantly to the balance<br />

sheet. Market players must find ways to<br />

offer a wider range of value-added services,<br />

starting with cricket-related content,<br />

latest news, Bollywood soundtracks, and<br />

video clips. “<strong>The</strong> mobile media is probably<br />

the biggest media opportunity of this<br />

century,” thinks Arun Gupta, CEO of Mauj<br />

Telecom.<br />

Last April, the Confederation of Indian<br />

Industry (CII) formed a Mobile Value Added<br />

Services (VAS) task force bringing together<br />

not just content providers and media<br />

companies, but network operators, handset<br />

manufacturers, and technology providers.<br />

Chaired by Vishal Gondal, CEO of Indiagames,<br />

the Mobile VAS group comprises a<br />

slate of industry leaders and foreign multinationals.<br />

In the future, he believes, this<br />

emerging mobile value chain community<br />

“will transform consumption patterns of<br />

media and entertainment.”<br />

<strong>The</strong> appetite for mobile entertainment<br />

is driven by the youth demographics (15-30<br />

years). “Worldwide this age group contributes<br />

75 percent of the mobile downloads<br />

and India is set to play a major force in<br />

this segment,” believes<br />

Bobby Bedi, Chairman<br />

of the CII National Entertainment<br />

Committee.<br />

One of the most<br />

critical challenges is the<br />

revenue-sharing model<br />

between the operators<br />

and content providers.<br />

Currently, the operators<br />

get 50 percent, the VAS<br />

vendors 25 percent,<br />

and content providers<br />

around 12-25 percent (maximum 35<br />

percent) of the revenue realization. New<br />

models must provide adequate incentives<br />

to content providers – as exemplified by<br />

successful service innovators, such as NTT<br />

DoCoMo in Japan, and emerging leaders,<br />

such as China Mobile (Figure 7).<br />

India is well-positioned to launch such<br />

an effort - but it is an immense task.<br />

3G & Spectrum Issues in India<br />

Today, the industry is characterized by the<br />

rapid decline of mobile tariffs, price erosion<br />

in handsets, and affordable services. At<br />

the same time, operators and vendors are<br />

transitioning to 3G networks, while struggling<br />

with a growing range of stationary<br />

broadband options (Wi-FI, VoIP), some of<br />

which are expected to pose substitution<br />

threats (WiMAX). <strong>The</strong>se new networks and<br />

options are critical to operators and content<br />

providers because they enable more<br />

for less, i.e., greater and more diversified<br />

services for lower cost.<br />

Since 2001, worldwide mobile markets<br />

have witnessed early transition to multimedia<br />

cellular (3G, UMTS). Today, there are<br />

several international 3G standards. In the<br />

US, Qualcomm has pioneered CDMA. In<br />

Europe, a group of companies led by Nokia<br />

promote WCDMA. More recently, China<br />

has been pushing its TD-SCDMA. At the<br />

end of 2005, more than half of the 50 million<br />

3G users were still in Japan and more<br />

than 40 percent were in Western Europe.<br />

<strong>The</strong> 3G penetration was barely 2.4 percent<br />

worldwide. <strong>The</strong> worldwide 3G subscriber<br />

base is expected to grow from 29.1 million<br />

in 2004 to 540 million in 2010.<br />

In high-income OECD economies, the<br />

benefits of 3G have been touted largely on<br />

the basis of advanced services. In China<br />

and India, the emphasis is heavily on cost<br />

advantages. Expected to be introduced in<br />

2006, 3G has 4-5 times higher voice capacity<br />

than the current 2G services. 3G will<br />

also enhance India’s competitiveness in<br />

business process outsourcing (BPO) – via<br />

the expansion of broadband and IT.<br />

In spring, the Department of Telecommunications<br />

(DoT) in India released a set<br />

of new guidelines that increased the limit<br />

of spectrum each GSM and CDMA operator<br />

can claim, based on their subscriber base.<br />

<strong>The</strong> new approaches have been welcome,<br />

but also criticized for a piecemeal approach<br />

to such a vital issue as spectrum. As noted<br />

by Sridhar T. Pai, head of tonse telecom,<br />

“<strong>The</strong> impending spectral shortage has been<br />

a ticking explosive in the Indian telecom<br />

70<br />

STRATEGIC INNOVATORS<br />

An <strong>IIPM</strong> Intelligence Unit Publication

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