Mobile VAS to be Rs 67,100 crore market by 2015: Study

NEW DELHI: Mobile value added services (VAS) such as music, news and internet will be a Rs 67,100-crore market by 2015 contributing 31 per cent to overall wireless revenues, says a study.

"... growth will be driven mainly by mobile data (both on handsets and dongles/connected computing devices) contributing 54 per cent of the overall MVAS market by 2015," according to the Internet Mobile Association Of India ( IAMAI)-Analyses Mason Vision Document on Mobile VAS.

The report has been developed after detailed discussions with over 50 players across the telecommunications industry, including leading operators, technology platforms, and VAS players.

"The mobile value added services are minuscule at present in comparison to its potential and the government would make appropriate efforts to put the industry on an equitable and sustainable growth path," Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot said.

Mobile VAS revenues form a large part of carrier revenues globally, in both developed and emerging markets. In India too, multiple trends indicate an inflexion point for the MVAS industry in the near future.

In addition to the direct revenue impact, the industry is also expected to have widespread secondary impact on entrepreneurship and innovation in India. The report also stresses on the need for policy enablers and market mechanisms taking necessary steps to address the current growth limitations in the sector, both from an on-deck as well as an off-deck perspective.

However, the report also suggest that VAS providers face challenges mainly on account of dispute redressal, they face issues from the lack of an alternate billing mechanism and delays in allocation and implementation of short codes and SMS penetration remains constrained due to the lack of standards based solutions for local language text on devices.