By Sachin Sondhi, Sandip Biswas, Gaurav Gupta, Prakash Bharwani; published by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited; January 2011; 68 pages; available at https://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-India/Local%20Assets/Documents/Deloitte_ASSOCHAM_MVAS_Study.pdf.
This research, jointly undertaken by the Indian arm of US-based consulting firm Deloitte and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), assesses the current state and future outlook of the mobile value-added services (MVAS) industry with the aim of facilitating socioeconomic growth in India. While MVAS comprise mobile technology that extends beyond standard voice calls to provide services, utility MVAS seek to use technology to empower citizens to bridge socioeconomic disparities. Given the current reach and penetration of mobile phones in India, the authors argue that MVAS have the potential to transcend an array of barriers such as time, place and socioeconomic class to enable the delivery of basic services across various cross-sections of the population.
The authors report that 670 million out of 1 billion Indians are mobile subscribers as of August 2010 and that mobile penetration is expected to increase to nearly 100 percent of the adult population by 2015. The emerging subscriber base has also led to increasing demand – by consumers and service providers – for access to value-added services. Also, the Indian government recently placed inclusive growth at the core of its poverty reduction strategy and regards the use of technology as a means to overcome the lack of infrastructure that has been impeding access to basic services. On the supply side, there is a need for differentiation as falling handset prices are forcing telecommunication providers and device manufacturers to shift their focus to services. Also, the increasing availability of large databases, including the anticipated listing of unique ID cards issued to every Indian citizen, have encouraged suppliers to provide access to such data.
The authors distinguish between the following three types of utility MVAS: information-based services, application-based services and enablement-based services. Information-based services are those that disseminate information to the public wherein the consumer plays a passive role. Information-based services include epidemic alerts and disaster management updates. Application-based services require some level of consumer engagement. These services include retrieving the status of payments and accessing training in languages or other subjects. Enablement-based services allow the mobile phone to serve as a platform to deliver services approaching those provided through a physical infrastructure such as completing person-to-person payments.
The authors suggest that all three types of services are present in a range of categories, of which the following four are analyzed in this report: M-Commerce, M-Education, M-Health and M-Governance. The authors present the case for each category in India, lessons learned from current applications around the world and key considerations for their deployment in India.
Based on lessons from case studies of MVAS and their applicability to the Indian ecosystem, the authors have outlined potential solutions to the challenges associated with facilitating socioeconomic development through the use of MVAS: (1) recognition of MVAS players by the telecommunications industry; (2) creation of a trade association or similar entity to assist in expanding the industry; (3) government prioritization of utility MVAS initiatives; (4) increased consumer access to handsets; (5) acceleration of the installment of cellular towers and other network infrastructure, particularly in non-urban areas; (6) ratification of guidelines around security and privacy; (7) launching of national awareness campaigns; (8) the incubation of application developers, content providers and other entrepreneurs in the space; and (9) encouragement of the compatibility of different computing devices.
By Jacqueline Foelster, Research Associate
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