The VAS market is set to cross Rs 5,000 crore by end 2008

What do you think is boosting the growth in the VAS market? And also what
kind of mobile content do you think will rule the market?

The number of telecom subscribers in India has been increasing at a
tremendous pace. Especially, the younger generation, has been keen to explore
and use VAS. To add to this, there has also been a steady decline in prices,
leading to economic acceptance as well.

According to research reports, the global mobile content market will be worth
a gigantic $45 bn by 2009. Also, SMS will rule the roost among all accepters of
VAS, accounting for a staggering 80% of India's VAS market.

As 3G technologies are poised to launch by 2009, what are your plans to
tackle the Indian consumer demand?

Indian consumers are tech savvy and are already set to avail 3G services
once it is available. We are poised to emerge among the front-runners in the 3G
technology space, since we provide a 3G compliant platform that can immediately
be upgraded and used once spectrum is available.

How distinct are the challenges that you face in India?

The key challenges that the Indian mobile VAS market is facing at present
are-the tussle over the entry of 3G technology into the Indian telecom market.
This, of course, is an area of concern for both operators and service providers.
Since, we are already over 3 years behind other international markets. And also,
lack of content localization can hamper VAS boom in India.

How exactly are you planning to take the development in the R&D space to
the next level?

We have over 2000 installations of our 'customer interaction management'
products comprising of IVRS (interactive voice response systems) applications,
contact center applications, and VAS, including mobile VAS, among others.

What are the prospects of unified solutions in India?

There is a tremendous requirement for unified solutions in India. The young
growing IT professionals and other allied sections are PC savvy and prefer to
communicate through email. The student generation needs everything to go by SMS.
The older generations prefer voice. The government and public sector prefer fax.
All current information is regularly updated in the web and is available for
reference. All solutions offered should definitely have the capabilities of web
services.

Bay Talkitec's “SmartCall” is a unified contact center solution with voice,
fax, ema il, SMS, and Web interface. It also has video capabilities, and can
operate on Windows, as well as, Linux.

Arpita Prem

arpitap@cybermedia.co.in