Tag: Dr Subho Ray

Mobile Vas services could touch Rs 45.6 billion in 2007: study

MUMBAI: The mobile value added services (Mobile Vas or MVas) industry could be worth nearly Rs 45.6 billion by the end of 2007, from its current size of Rs 28.5 billion.

These findings are a part of the Mobile Value Added Services Report, jointly prepared by the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International.

A break up of the total market size of Rs 28.5 billion reveals that P2P (person to person) SMS or text messaging, continues to dominate the industry with Rs 11.4 billion, followed by ringtones, including caller ring back tones (CRBT) at Rs 10.26 billion; Person to Application (P2A) and Application to Person (A2P) at Rs 4.28 billion; games and data at Rs 1.71 billion and others (MMS etc) at Rs 860 million.

The P2P SMS revenue is accrued completely to the telecom operators. The remaining MVas revenues are distributed among content owners, developers and the telecom operators on a revenue sharing basis.

In the case of MVas (except P2P SMS) the revenue sharing arrangement is heavily in favour of telecom operators. This model is significantly different from more developed markets such as China where typically the operators are entitled to 20-30 per cent only. In the case of enterprise solution services, the revenue share arrangement between operator and short code owner is typically 70 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

IAMAI president Dr Subho Ray says, “This is the first attempt at a market estimate for the industry and we are hopeful that government and industry will now look at the MVas industry with the attention that is due to it.”

He adds that for the market to grow and come out with innovative solutions three issues must be set right at the outset: revenue sharing and schedule of payments which is currently heavily in favour of telecom operators; stable and long term enabling policies by the government; and intra industry issues such as intellectual property rights.

January 3, 2007
IAMAI-IMRB study pegs urban internet users at 37 million for September

BANGALORE: According to the joint research by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, Internet users in India have reached 37 million in the month of September 2006, up from 33 million in March 2006. During the same period the number of “active users” has risen from 21.1 Million in March 2006 to 25 Million in September 2006. “Active User” is an internationally accepted and widely used category to define users who have used the internet at least one in the last 30 days.

The numbers are a result of the largest “offline” survey so far carried out in India to estimate the “ever user” and “active user” categories.? The primary survey for the study was conducted in early 2006 amongst 16,500 households covering 65,000 individuals across 26 major metros and small towns in India, with additional coverage of 10,000 business and 250 cyber caf? owners. The survey did not include rural areas.

According to the findings, youth are the main drivers of internet usage in India . College students and those below the age of 35 are the biggest segment on the Internet. Both these segments have the highest proportion of conversion of “Ever” Users to “Active” users of Internet.

Besides the youth the internet hungry small towns are further fuelling the growth. As per the survey, smaller metros and towns are increasingly embracing the Internet evolution and are pushing growth from below. Smaller cities and towns have shown a whopping 142% YoY growth and now account for 25% of all internet users.

Commenting on the survey Dr. Subho Ray, President, IAMAI says, “Although there is a marginal revision of the earlier IAMAI number for the year, given the rapid growth of internet business and government’s massive e-Governance programme, it was time to look into the numbers more stringently. This will help better business decisions on part of the industry as well as better resource planning by the government.”

Predicting on the future development, Mohan Krishnan, Vice President and Country Manager, eTechnology Group@IMRB, says, “The next round of growth will be driven by new and innovative applications such as blogs, P2P, video on demand and online gaming. While the old favourites such as email, Chat and IM will drive first time users to the medium”.
The study estimates that the Internet User base is likely to cross the 40 million mark by March 2007, when the “Ever” User base is likely to hit 42 Million and the Active User base is likely to hit 28 Million. By March 2008, the Ever User base should cross the 50 Million mark. The active user base would reach a staggering figure of 43 million users by the same time.

September 19, 2006
Online players cash-in on Fifa World cup & score goals with web content: IAMAI

BANGALORE: The Football world cup, which concluded last week, attracted sports lovers across the globe to the Internet. All major portals and mobile content providers in India had specially redesigned their content for the World Cup to feed the demand of football fans.

Online add-ons such as mobile download of wallpapers of some of the popular football players and online and mobile games attracted the maximum number of fans to the internet, according to an official release from the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Says IAMAI president Dr Subho Ray, “The World Cup bonanza shows that the Internet has emerged not only as an alternative medium but as a parallel medium to a large section of the people in India. With the advent of broadband as well as mobile phones, it is possible to keep a track of the matches even on the go. Websites and mobile content companies are gradually realising the potential of both these mediums and hence are increasingly beefing up their content for such mega events and in the process successfully attracting more and more users and advertisers”.

HT Media, for example, recorded a 5 per cent to 7 per cent increase in the online revenues, claims Hindustan Times GM Business Development Salil Kumar. Kumar also mentioned that the number of hits during the prime time period at 9 30 pm reached an average of 15,00,000, at post-midnight averaged 20,00,000 and evening 6 30 pm reached an average 5,00,000.

According to Kumar, in terms of city-wise access to World Cup related activities, Delhi/Chandigarh topped with 40 per cent, followed by Mumbai 30 per cent, Pune 5 per cent, Ahmedabad 5 per cent, Bangalore 10 per cent, Hyderabad 5 per cent and others 5 per cent.

States Sify Ltd VP Interactive Services Surya Mantha, “Thousands of clips of World Cup football related content were viewed on Sify’s broadband portal Sify Max in the first two weeks of the tournament”. He added that the most watched clip was related to the Brazil v/s France match on 2 July, which was viewed 25,000 times.

Soccer fans around the world treat their favourite sport as a religion and hence increasingly want to know more and more about their favourite players. This has resulted in an offbeat category on websites, which provides other such information to the football fans. In the offbeat category, Mantha says, “A video featuring the wives/girlfriends of star football players was the most popular”.

Online advertisers took full advantage of the World Cup fever. MSN India had advertisers such as Lenovo and LIC Housing, informs MSN India Sales and Marketing head R. Rajnish. He also mentioned that netizens mostly in the age group of 18-35 years visited their website for World Cup related activities, the release adds.

“For Rediff.com”, says chief media revenue officer Arvindra Kanwal, “increased page views resulted in more ad inventory which in turn resulted in better revenue”. He adds, “Football as a platform brought a set of advertisers like Ranbaxy, Maruti Swift, Gillette, Microsoft, Apollo Tyres and others. Our response in page views and sponsor interest mirrored cricket and largely caught the interest of Sec A & B urban audiences in eight metros. Smaller towns were slow to respond”.

Airtel on the other hand was one of the presenting sponsors of the Fifa World Cup on ESPN, which had the exclusive telecast rights. It provided soccer fans World Cup updates, sourced from ESPN Mobile. It also offered the official song of the FIFA World Cup as a Hello Tune & Ringtone for all Airtel customers.

Says Bharti Airtel Ltd joint president (Mobility), “Football and World cup related content were among the most popular downloads on Airtel Live, the multi-access entertainment portal of Airtel. As per data available over the last 30 days, the official Fifa World Cup game is among the four most downloaded games. In this visually engaging game, gamers experienced the 12 official stadiums as they took one of their 32 national teams from qualification to glory. ‘Time of Our Lives’, ballad by Il Divo & Toni Braxton, which was the official Fifa World Cup song, has been among the top 10 downloaded songs in the non-film category on Airtel. Football related images were among the top five downloaded wallpapers.”

July 13, 2006
9.2 million Indians to seek jobs online by 2006-07: IAMAI

MUMBAI: The number of Indian online job seekers is expected to cross 9.2 million this year (2006-07) with the estimated market size of the Indian online recruitment industry reaching Rs 2.41 billion for 2006-2007 from Rs 1.45 billion for 2005-2006.

The industry is also likely to maintain a year on year growth of over 60 per cent, according to a survey conducted by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) recently.

As per the findings, the number of Indians seeking jobs online reached 6.5 million in 2005-2006 recording a rise of 71 per cent over last year.

The survey also found that junior, mid-level and senior executives accounted for more than 50 per cent of online job seekers. In addition, in keeping with the overall pattern of internet usage, among the states Maharashtra topped the list of online job seekers followed by Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal.

Fast facts of online job search

— 43 per cent in the 26-35 age group
— 72 per cent male and 28 per cent female

Qualification:
— 41 per cent have a Graduate / Post-Graduate General (BA, BSC. MSC, B.com etc.)
— 40 per cent have a Graduate /Post Graduate Professional Degree.

Occupation:
— 25 per cent Mid Level Executives
— 15 per cent Junior Executives
— 13 per cent Students
— 12 per cent Senior Executives

Top five states:
— 26 per cent Maharashtra
— 17 per cent Delhi
— 13 per cent Tamil Nadu
— 8 per cent Karnataka
— 6 per cent West Bengal

Online Job Search is one of the top five online activities (e-mail, surfing, chatting, search and job search) that Indians indulge in on the internet.

Fuelled by a rising internet penetration and 38.5 million users, e-recruitment is gaining ground as a preferred medium of hiring in India. For job seekers, the internet has opened up the world of job searching, turning it into a 24-hour-a-day marketplace. Internet is arguably the most immediate, convenient and comprehensive medium for employment seekers to research and prospect for jobs.

Commenting on the findings of the survey, IAMAI president Dr Subho Ray said, “Online job search is a winner all the way. For job seekers it eliminates the disadvantages of location, cost and time. For recruiters, it provides easy access to the best talent at a competitive cost. Given the obvious advantages, this segment is set to grow at a scorching pace.”

A growing economy, a thriving job market and increasingly net savvy users have converged to create the right environment for the online job search market to grow.

To understand the exact demographics of the online job seekers as well as parallel activities they do online, IAMAI mandated a study in January 2006 with a base of 3269 respondents who seek jobs online. The survey was mandated by the IAMAI to online research firm Cross Tab Marketing Services, with the overall objective of obtaining data to understand and anticipate online job trends.

May 16, 2006