1. A To Z of Telecom VAS: Including & Beyond ABCD The Indian Perspective

2. What is ABCD of Telecom VAS? No we are not talking about the… American Born Confused Desis

3. ABCD of Telecom VAS It’s the 'Ayah, Bai, Carpenter, Driver...' market. These are the ones fuelling the next phase of growth in Mobile penetration and naturally VAS should be targeted and customized according to their profiles

4. A App 2 App 4 App 3 App1 App 5 App Store Ad RBT Freebies are always welcome. The future of RBT is Ad-RBT & will reach The lowest level of the pyramid via collaboration of operators with advertisers Astrology With a market size of more than Rs 40,000 crores, the attraction of prediction is unavoidable for operators as well as consumers App Store Future VAS applications will be Innovated, Incubated & Implemented out of App stores

5. B Browsing Mobiles have already replaced computers as the preferred mode of browsing and have a far better reach than the costly PCs Bollywood Indians are crazy about Bollywood and are ready to devour content in any means Blogging With the emergence of micro-blogging sites like Twitter, Indians are continuously blogging on the move

6. C Content Content is King. The future model of content on mobile will evolve just like content on the web, which is mostly free. This will further warm up the battle for quality content Cricket We eat eat, live and sleep cricket. We worship cricketers as demi-Gods. Anything related to cricket, count us in. Communities VAS will evolve to address the needs of particular communities based on their areas of relevance and interest

7. D Dating With a major chunk of the population in the age group of 15 to 25 years, coupled with the fact that youngsters are early adopters, Mobile Dating will take center stage in the days to come. Devotion Indians are God-fearing religious people and we seek blessings in order to be successful in life . Spirituality is a way of our life

8. E Enterprise Seamless connectivity and containing costs while enhancing productivity will drive adoption of various VAS applications among enterprises, specially MSMEs Education Exam results and Lessons via Mobiles will not only be embraced by rural India, but also urban students who are always on the move

9. F Fun People like to have Fun-on-the Go while waiting in queues, travelling, etc and what better means than the ubiquitous mobile phone with some compelling applications.

10. G Gaming Multiplayer, community based , location based games would be the future driver in this category. Gambling Gambling-both legal and illegal are already being played out on the mobile phones. This will only increase in the days to come.

11. H Handsets Capability of handsets is a major constraint in the delivery and access of VAS applications. Supporting voice and vernacular VAS is a real challenge, especially for the low-end handsets of the developing world Health Telemedicine has got a shot in the arm, thanks to Mobile Based Health Advisory System. Wellness tips, Fast Aid tricks, BMI, personal monitoring, etc are some of the possible services. Coupled with embedded capabilities, it’s a huge field

12. I Infotainment There is a huge market to be tapped seeking Infotainment on the mobile device itself. Information coupled with an entertainment quotient held great value in the domain of VAS = + Entertainment Information

13. J Jokes 1 out of every 3 messages that we send to each other are Jokes. This is the single largest category of VAS in vogue today, even ahead of CRBTs

14. K Knowledge Man’s quest for knowledge is never ending. Via Mobile search engines- voice and text, a large community of consumers will explore the encyclopedia of knowledge available in the public domain

15. L LIMI (Low Income Marginal Income) Both the rural and urban populations lying at the bottom of the pyramid will thrust the next phase of mobile revolution. Volume and Margin will be competing against each other. Location Based Services Location Based VAS such as nearest point of interest along with presence and context will be a niche application eg buddy finder, child tracker

16. M M-Commerce This will revolutionize the financial sector especially the microfinance sector which will get a boost from better affordability and reach in rural areas. Banking and insurance will also now reach every household in the village. Music This is one area where rural India is ahead of its urban counterpart. Music on Mobile is the most popular VAS in rural India, even surpassing CRBTs

17. N News News across various categories ranging from sports to entertainment to current affairs are being accessed by people on the go. It’s the age of T20 and people want news relevant to them in sachets Networking Networking with friends and family is on the rise and according to a recent study not only youngsters, but even middle-aged people are taking to it via mobiles in a huge way.

18. O Ovi-like Stores Ovi-like Stores are the one stop shop for future VAS applications. It is a single gateway to a host of applications based upon the requirements of a particular geography, consumer segment, etc. These stores will be open to developers and content providers to come up with compelling applications backed by rich content

19. P Pricing New business models demand new pricing models. Sachet-based pricing is the way to go, especially in rural areas. Profile Same size doesn’t fit all-age, region, religion, gender, etc-VAS should be customized and relevant for the individual Packaging With proper packaging a simple application can be a killer, while without proper packaging, even the best of applications can be flop

20. Q Quiz Quizzing on mobile can be a very popular application not only among the youngsters but can also serve as a tool for interactive learning in rural areas .

21. R Religion Timings of various festivals, chants, slokas, etc all are popular religion based VAS across India. Radio Radio on Mobile will be the next big thing after FM on Mobile. Radio will also get a new lease of life via this new delivery medium Ringtones Most popular VAS across the globe other than SMS-will evolve more with time Rural The rural market is the one that is driving cellular penetration now and obviously VAS relevant to them will push up the ARPU

22. S Satchet Different markets call for different pricing models. For the rural market, sachet based pricing is the way to go Search Search on mobile has the potential to be greater than that on the PCs as both audio and textual search can be provisioned

23. T Ticketing Ticketing on Mobile will save time and money for both rural and urban consumers. TV on Mobile The single most application which will benefit the max from 3G is TV on Mobile.

24. U Utilities Utility Payments from mobile will enable the middle class people to save from the hassles of bureaucracies and long queues UGC User Generated Content will drive the services on mobile to a more personal and customizable level. Content will move towards a free regime.

25. V Voice Voice based VAS is the way to go. This enables more interactivity, engagement and is the most easy and popular means for any service. Voice based IVR is one such example. Vernacular With a lot of applications for the mass market ,applications catering to the rural market, Vernacular enabled by transliteration engine on the mobile will be a common thing

26. W Widgets Mobile widgets are highly useful web-based apps offering videos, photos, news, games, live sports scores, social networking, and LBS Wallpaper Wallpapers on mobile phones are one of the early VAS applications which gained prominence before the era of CRBT and will always be in demand.

27. X VAS.X The ‘X’ here stands for Gen “X” ie next generation VAS.2/VAS.3….etc. SMS 2.0 is one such example . It enables interactive hyper-linking of advertisements etc. In essence, any VAS service which evolves to the next level can be termed as VAS.X. This assumes prime significance as most of the VAS services today are undergoing continuous improvements and are evolving to their next level at a break-neck speed. 0

28. Y Youth based Apps Youth is the largest consumer of VAS and is also the largest demographic market by number in India. They are the early adopters of such services. So more than 50% of VAS is built around them

29. Z ZooZoo ZooZoo is synonymous with Promotion & Packaging. In order to be successful in the VAS industry, don’t do different things, but do things differently. This means while without the right kind of promotion/packaging even the best of applications may not fly, while with proper promotion/packaging even an ordinary application can be a hit.