Mobile VAS expected to touch 1 bn this year

Mumbai, Jan 3 (UNI) The Mobile Value Added Services (Mobile VAS) industry could be worth nearly a billion dollars (Rs 4,560 crore) by the end of 2007, from its current size of Rs 2,850 cr.

These findings are a part of the Mobile Value Added Services Report jointly prepared by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International.

A break up of the total market size of Rs 2,850 crore reveals that P2P (person-to-person) SMS or text messaging, continues to dominate the industry with Rs 1,140 crore, followed by ringtones, including caller ring back tones at Rs 1,026 crore; P2A (person-to-application) and A2P (application-to-person) at Rs 428 crore; games and data at Rs 171 crore and others (MMS etc) at Rs 86 crore, a IAMAI release said here today.

Commenting on the study, Dr Subho Ray, President, IAMAI said.

''This is the first attempt at a market estimate for the industry and we are hopeful that government and industry will now look at the MVAS industry with the attention that is due to it''.

He said that for the market to grow and come out with innovative solutions, three issues must be set right at the outset - revenue sharing and schedule of payments which is currently heavily in favour of telecom operators, stable and long term enabling policies by the government and intra industry issues such as IPR etc.

Without these, the industry will not be able to sustain growth, he added.

UNI