(MVAS) Under The Guidance Of: Shri. Suresh Dhruwey Submitted By: 1.Gunjan Kushwaha 2.Madhubala Wasnik 3.Madhuri Dewangan 4.Renu Kashyap 5.Shashi Narmada

Value Added Services (VAS) in telecom industry refers to non-core or non-basic services which add value to the core or basic services. Mobile Value Added Service (MVAS) is a well established and rapidly growing set of mobile applications beyond basic voice and messaging services.

The reasons for increasing importance of MVAS are:  Increases Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) Though the subscriber base is growing at a rapid pace and has positively impacted industry revenues, operator margins also have shrunk owing to competition and lower ARPU. The challenge is to develop alternative revenue stream and retain customers by creating a basis for differentiation in high- churn markets. Mobile developers add more and more services under M-VAS. This creates an opportunity for mobile operators to attract customers with launching of new Mobile Value Added Services. This is likely to enhance customer base and increases ARPU.

 Need For Differentiation The competition among the operators has increased tremendously. Therefore it is very important for them to differentiate from others. Now that voice has got commoditized, these operators are using MVAS for their differentiation and marketing. These services are creating awareness among the consumers.  Increasing Need And Demand From Consumers The ‘Pull- Effect’ from consumers asking for more than just basic telephony is also a key driver for MVAS services. Today most of the consumers are seeking more from their communication device apart from just mobility and desire to stay connected.

 BSNL implements MVAS through SDP (Service Delivery Platform).  SDP addresses the need of both operators and content providers.  BSNL SDP manages and delivers contents like movies, music, mobile TV, videos, games, etc.  BSNL can create its own content or can have partners to supply the content.  BSNL SDP supports different formats for accessing.  BSNL MVAS can be availed through: 1. STK (SIM Tool Kit) 2. USSD (Unstructured Service Supplementary Data) 3. GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) 4. BSNL live

 BSNL SIM Tool Kit provides an optional ‘Cellone’ to avail some of M-VAS.  A customer has to simply navigate through menu/sub-menu of concerned service and select it.  System automatically converts it to a SMS and sends it to the MVAS provider and gets the reply.  The menu options are directly updated by the MVAS service provider without intervention of the customer.  Various options under STK are news, finance, entertainment, TV schedule, travel, astrology, cricket,etc.

 It is session oriented.  It is a menu-based service.  It is extremely user-friendly and can be accessed directly from phone screens.  USSD is almost 7 times faster than the conventional SMS.  A message is of maximum 182 characters.  USSD has dialogue concept but no store & forward.  Some of the USSD subjects are astrology, automobile, Bhagawad Gita, cricket, health care, news, word of the day, etc.

 GPRS is 2.5G GSM.  GPRS offers high speed data services.  It uses Packet Switching Technique.  It provides internet connectivity to the users enabling them browsing and activities.  GPRS supports MMS (Multimedia Message Service).  GPRS users can download ring tones, mp3 tones, color logos, wallpapers, videos, animations, games, etc.

 ‘BSNL Live’ is a WAP (Wireless Application Part) portal.  It offers one stop shop for all information, entertainment and communication related requirements.  ‘BSNL Live’ can be accessed by all GSM (2.5G & 3G) subscribers.  ‘BSNL Live’ contents are heavy on data and hence 3G connection Is desirable to experience the thrill of contents.  ‘BSNL Live’ is a gateway to MVAS.  It provides movie streaming, video on demand, full track mp3 music, games, etc.

Two types of charges are applicable:  Surfing/ Downloading charges as per plan chosen by customers.  Whenever customer wants to buy any content, he will have to buy the content. The price would be displayed before downloading/streaming. On getting confirmation from customer, downloading/streaming will start.

 Streaming: During streaming content is send in a continuous stream and displayed on the compatible mobile set of the user in real time without getting stored in the memory of mobile set. It is to be viewed in specific time limit.  Downloading: Downloading allows to store the content into the memory of the compatible mobile set. It can be viewed at any time as many times the user desires.

 Mobile developers are on the job of adding more and more services under the banner of MVAS.  This creates an opportunity for mobile operators to attract customers with launching of new mobile value added services.  This is likely to enhance customer base and increase ARPU.  The customer like MVAS, if they are user-friendly to operate, cheap in price, compatible handsets are easily available and support from customer service center are available on demand.

All the value added services address some need of the end consumer whether it is psychological, monetary or convenience. Based on the need fulfillment of the end user, mobile VAS has three broad categories: 1.Entertainment VAS 2.Info VAS 3.M-commerce VAS

 The key differentiating factor of entertainment VAS is the mass appeal it generates. These provide entertainment for leisure time usage.  These services continue to be popular and have been key revenue generators for the Indian mobile VAS market.  This is a high value MVAS and will continue to show the growth.  Owing to its sticky nature, it requires comparatively less marketing efforts and cost.  Entertainment VAS has the potential to remain a key contributor to mobile VAS industry.  Other popular entertainment VAS driving the market are dating and chatting services. This service is growing fast and also witnessing less churn compared to other MVAS.

 These services are characterized by the useful information it provides to the end user.  The user interest comes in from the personal component and relevance of the content.  They also include user request for information on other product categories like real-estate, education, stock updates, etc.  Information VAS needs to target the right person at the right time with the right content.

 These include transactional services.  These are the services which involve some transaction using the mobile phones.  An example of this type of service is buying movie tickets using mobile phones or transfer of money from one bank account to the other account.  These can be broadly classified into 2 types: 1. Mobile Banking 2. Mobile Payments