Mobile VAS Numbers for India:
Key Numbers as of March 2008
- Total Mobile subcribers – 250mn
- Avg. ARPU : Rs. 250/
- Prepaid connection comprise 85% of total subscriber base.
- VAS constitutes 7% of the total total telecom revenue for Indian operators.
- Digital music (including CRBT and ringtones) constitutes 35% of VAS revenue
- Almost half of Indians use ULCH (Ultra Low Cost Handsets)
ARPU Split of Rs 250
| Voice + Rentals | 90% | Rs 225 | Includes Rentals, Activation Charges, etc. |
| P2P SMS (primarily) Also: GPRS Data, Call Roaming, CLI | 5% | Rs 12.50 | None of this flows through to the VAS Providers |
| Other VAS | 5% | Rs 12.50 | Rs 4,300 cr / $1 billion annualised revenue |
| Revenue for VASPs | 17% of the 5% above | Rs 2 | Rs 750 cr cr / $180 million annualised revenue |
VAS Revenues by Category
Category | Penetration | Numbers (million) | Revenue (Rs / mo) | ARPU | Total Revenue (Rs / mo) | VAS Revenue (Rs / mo) | Annual VAS Revenue | Key Players |
| P2P SMS | 35% | 80 m | Rs 30 | Rs 11 | Rs 250 cr | Rs 3,500 cr | ||
| CRBT | 25% | 65 m | Rs 25 | Rs 5.50 | Rs 165 cr | Rs 30 cr | Rs 350 cr | OnMobile BhartiTele Hungama |
| IVR / Voice Portal | 15% | 30 m | Rs 20 | Rs 3 | Rs 60 cr | Rs 10 cr | Rs 125 cr | OnMobile One97 Cellebrum |
| Downloads (Ringtones, Wallpapers, Games) | 10% | 25 m | Rs 10 | Re 1 | Rs 25 cr | Rs 6 cr | Rs 75 cr | Hungama |
| SMS Subs. | 5% | 15 m | Rs 20 | Re 1 | Rs 30 cr | Rs 6 cr | Rs 75 cr | One97 |
| P2A SMS | 15% | 30 m | Rs 6 | Re 1 | Rs 30 cr | Rs 6 cr | Rs 75 cr | IndiaTimes |
| Misc | Re 1 | Rs 50 cr | Rs 5 cr | Rs 50 cr | ||||
| TOTAL (ex-P2P SMS) | 250 m | Rs 12.50 | Rs 360 cr | Rs 63 cr | Rs 750 cr |
Does this mean that VAS market is ~200mn industry only (though the expected CAGR is ~44% )?
Entities in VAS Value chain
- Content/Application Owner – cos. like saregama/mauj/Rajshri who develop coyrighted content
- Aggregator – aggregates content like games/wallpapers/ringtones and distributes it to suit customer needs [players : mauj, hungama mobile, indiatimes mobile etc]
- software developer – develops applications (like payment/games/middleware etc.) for mobile VAS [players – mchek/July systems/webaroo/affle etc]
- Technology Enabler – provides the platform that plugs into telco networks and acts like a bridge between aggregator and telcos [players include OnMobile, cellnext. mauj etc]
Operators still dominate the revenue sharing arrangement in VAS [Of the amount paid by end users, 60-70% is kept by operator, aggregator gets 20-25% and content app/owner gets 10-15% of the revenue]
Via Emergic (with permission from Rajesh) and our earlier post on VAS Market Research
