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GSM India
The leaders of India’s GSM operators will gather for the annual GSM India
conference in Goa, 18th – 19th January 2005, to discuss the future of the
industry.
Indian GSM operators gained 1.53 million subscribers
in September, almost 10 per cent up
on the August figure, according to figures
from the Cellular Operators Association of
India. This gives a total of 33.56 million GSM
subscribers for the end of September. This
makes India’s wireless market the second
fastest expanding in the world with a 39 per
cent annual growth rate.
India widely recognised as the next great, untapped
mobile market, having the second largest population
in the world, is set to become the largest within 40
years or so. Penetration is low (four per cent) and
growth is high.
The government has awoken to the potential, and is
lifting or clarifying restrictions on everything from
public share listings, to mergers, to foreign direct
investment.
However, competition is fierce. Indias Tariff Wars
have attracted extensive coverage in the industry
press. Falling tariffs and reduced margins have meant
that average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) has
only just stabilised, after a decline which has lasted
four years. The argument is that although the overall
market is growing, the expansion is increasingly bringing
in subscribers with lower disposable income.
One of the key questions GSM India will address is the
reversal of ARPU decline through the adroit implementation
of Value Added Services (VAS). To take the
case of this years election in India, around 130,000
people called Airtel Live's 646 voice service to check
the election results. This is the highest number of calls
in a day that any operator has fielded, so far, on such
a service.
This success is more than a one-off phenomenon,
"Voice portal minutes have grown 60 per cent over
the last quarter," says Mohit Bhatnagar, vice-president
(new product development and alliances), Airtel.
Airtel's closest competitor Hutchison Max Telecom,
claims that its two-year-old voice service (123-service)
is picking up momentum. Idea Cellular (456-service)
and BPL Mobile (Just Call service), who have just started
their own voice services, say they too are banking
on expanding revenues from VAS.
Operators claim that none of the voice services are
choking up their networks yet, but as volumes move
up, this will change.
GSM India will highlight Indias operators rising to this
challenge. Witness BSNL 200 million euro (US$246
million) contract with Nokia to expand its GSM/Edge
and GPRS network in north India.
On the services themselves, Hutchison Max Telecom
became the first Indian operator to launch mobile TV
services under the Hutch TV brand. GSM India will
also bring the major players in media such as Sony
and Universal to highlight their cutting-edge work
with mobile. Technical implementation will be thoroughly
discussed, as will overseas insights from operators
O2 and Orange.
GSM India will also highlight the opportunities for
value chain players other than operators. For instance,
on the data-content itself, Indian mobile games developer
Indiagames has made major in roads into markets
both at home and abroad, for example being the
most deployed provider of downloadable mobile
games in Singapore.
Couple this with the high interest in Bollywood
themed mobile content showcased by Players like Eros
International, this years GSM India looks set to be the
most forward looking in the series.
.
To find out how to be part of GSM India …
Please visit:
www.gsmconferences.com/gsmindia
Moreover, GSM India will highlight the future of VAS
in non-voice, data-based applications. Although,
today, operators report most users find it difficult to
remember SMS codes, and the number of GPRS users
in India, as a share of the total subscriber base, is low.
The problem is that voice services take up a lot of network
space, and that can put strains on profitability.
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