VAS offers range of services

Mumbai, June 10 (UNI) Does Sameera Reddy wake you up every morning? Are you perpetually offered the latest Bollywood hit for your ring tone? With more than 156 million cell phones ringing away, a new breed of companies have emerged right on the heels of major network providers offering Value Added Services, or VAS.

The VAS services range from ring tones, tickets, discounts and match scores. The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of all these services are flexibility-the services can be customized to suit the customer and low pricing. While a number of the VAS in the market can be justifiably dismissed as bothersome money-making schemes, the medium itself has a huge potential for providing useful services.

''The potential for growth and utilization (of VAS) is immense, especially with the new wireless system'', said Amit Zaveri, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of enableM, an Andheri-based VAS provider.

He should know, as enableM is linking up with various coaching institutes to provide IIT, UPSE, CAT aspirants with database on their respective subjects, mock tests, definitions of terms, and even arrange for group discussions at their finger tips.

For students in rural areas and small towns, without access to proper coaching institutes, books, or proper means of communication, VAS can provide that vital link. Similarly, using VAS, doctors and their patients can have a 24 hour open line of communication. The list can go on.

With an estimated six million cell phones being sold every month, and only 17 per cent of the market having been penetrated, India is the fastest growing market in the world.

With proper network and pricing, VAS can not only provide a cheap and reliable mode of communication - especially between the urban and rural areas, it can be used as a proper marketing tool, keeping in mind their customers' needs and tastes.

UNI