Business World (www.businessworldindia.com)
May 8, 2006
Anup Jayaram


Mobile telephone service companies must go to non-urban India if they have to keep the growth momentum. But there is a glitch. Away from the big cities, the market is essentially that for voice services. So, hardly any of the services that bring in the money would find takers there. And that means lower average revenue per user.

But Kirusa, a us-based developer of mobile data and voice solutions, could change that. The company offers voice activated SMS service which enables mobile user to send SMS messages with voice. That should come as a boon to many of the newer users who are not SMS savvy. BY the year-end, most mobile operators in India are expected to offer this service.

The voice SMS is received as a message that the user can hear in the voice of the sender. The message will be restricted to 30 seconds. This application is already a big hit with GrameenPhone, BangladeshÕs biggest mobile service provider. It is also offered by Globe Telecom (Philippines); PT IndoSat (Indonesia) and France Telecom, and works on both GSM and CDMA networks. The application has an enterprise application too. Says Taranjit Batra, vice-president (sales), Kirusa: "In Bangladesh, salespersons send daily voice reports".

An operator needs to invest Rs 2.25 crore for every 2 million subscribers to offer this service. It is estimated that the service will add another Rs 1,200 crore to the total revenues of Indian mobile service providers. The option of reading or hearing the SMS will come later.

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