Growth in the Indian telecom sector will be driven by value-added services like mobile banking in the next phase, with the market for such offerings set to rise fourfold to $9 billion by 2015, according to a report by professional services firm KPMG and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
“Mobile value-added services (MVAS) is expected to increase from $2.28 billion in 2010 to $9.03 billion by 2015, driven by the uptake of third-generation (3G) services in urban as well as in rural areas,” the report said.
India’s telecom operators still earn most of their revenues from voice calls, with revenues from data accounting for 15% of total earnings in March, according to the report.
“But this is set to change after better networks and 3G and broadband services. Some of the services expected to make an impact on the Indian telecom market include mobile banking, mobile education, basic governance services, health information services, agriculture and entertainment,” Indo-Asian News Service reported.
“In developing markets like India, mobile banking, in particular, will see huge uptake as regulators evolve clearer guidelines to reach out to the large un-banked population base,” the KPMG report said, according to IANS.
Interestingly a recent customer preferences survey (Airtel Mobitude 2011) conducted by telecom operator Airtel also indicated emergence of MVAS in the Indian telecom sector.
The survey, conducted annually since 2009, revealed rising demand for data services as result of the introduction of 3G services and rising number of smartphones.
