The Economic Times (Via Agencyfaqs.com): India’s leading business paper, The Economic Times, today front-paged a story on value added services saying that it’s in for an exponential growth. These are the key points:
There are daily downloads of about 1 million paid ringtones and about 100 million SMSs, and this may grow even further in coming months, say operators. VAS services presently contribute about 10 per cent of the total telecom revenue.
It is estimated to grow at an annual rate of about 30 per cent to 40 per cent. Cellular Operators Associaton of India has projected that VAS will contribute up to 20 per cent of total telecom revenue within three years. India has an average revenue per user (ARPU) of $8 per month, which is the lowest in the world. It is less than half the ARPUs in Asia Pacific ($18.9) and below one-fourth in Western Europe ($37.40). The global average is $21.30 per month.
SMS still contributes a significant part of non-voice revenue services, according to COAI. About 65 per cent of the total non-voice revenues come from SMS, while caller line identification accounts for 8 per cent of the total VAS revenue. The remaining 27 per cent of VAS revenue comes from services like games, ringtones, mobile entertainment and multimedia messaging.
The VAS revenue is expected to account for up to 20 per cent of the total revenue in the next three years.
Do you agree with these numbers?
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