The post lunch session began with
the opening remarks by Deepak Halan, Group Business Director, IMRB. He pointed
at the excessive fragmentation of the telecom market with far too many content
providers. He also contrasted the Indian telecom scenario in the international
context where telecom operators dominate the revenues, unlike other countries, such
as China, where content providers dominate the major chunk of the revenues.
In a refreshing change of
discussions amidst the pressing concerns of the telecom market, Mr. Keith
Curran, CEO, Steadings Group (UK) presented a very thought provoking session on
the future of networks, personalized to the level of the individual who wields
the control in today’s digital world. Aptly titled, My Life, Keith Curran walked the audience through a world of
possibilities when the current push approach
to business evolves to pull, handing
over the reins back to the consumer. He addressed
the importance of grappling the dynamics of a typical hockey stick revenue curve
with persisent efforts to reduce churn and sustain growth in a market that has
not yet been saturated. Inorder to
increase the ARPUs it was essential to shift the current mindset from Value
Added services to Essential Added services. He highlighted the dimensions of
the My Life starting from My Number, where customers could opt for
preferred numbers which would strongly resonate with their identity to My Payments
and My Convenience. He also
envisioned the creation of My Profile which
would encompass the entire digital identity of the user and establish a habit
monitor that could target the right product based on the pattern of habits. This
profile would be empowered by a secure system tagged to the mobile phone of the
customer, validated by a PIN across the wide spectrum of networks. He averred
that the centralized, secured control of the consumer’s digital footprint,
facilitated by My ID, would redefine
segmentation in its truest sense by optimizing to the customer’s choice to the
highest granularity. The audience pointed out the concerns of centralized
security, drawing parallels with the Unique Identity project being carried out
by the Indian Government.
This was followed by a panel
discussion on Targeted Multi Channel Content which would bring about additional
revenues. Kunal Behl, Founder, Snap Deal showcased his firm’s recommendation
engine which helps in pushing coupons to the customers depending on the
contextual significance. He also highlighted the fatigue involved in the traditional
selling of the regular advertising content. Keith brought in interesting examples from UK
where operators offered free calling plans with specific advertising for callers.
Deepak stressed on the need to explore innovative business models. To a
question on the current power relationships between the telecom providers, he pointed
out the Indian business context in perspective where the telecom players have
more muscle power than the media houses which provided content. Kunal contrasted the shifting preference
towards performance advertising vis a vis brand advertising. Keith also explored the possibility of reverse
advertising based on the habit monitor tracked by the consumer’s digital foot
print.
Amit Singh from Tata Docomo
presented their strategic approach to mobile content with the addition of EFG E-Education,
F-Facebooking, G-Games to the traditional ABCD A- Astrology, B- Bollywood, C-Cricket,
D-Devotional of Mobile Content. He also showcased Tata Docomo’s successful initiatives
such as Prayers, Rock, Paper & Scissor game and Social Networking in bringing the
common man to the VAS Ecosystem. He classified the content into fresh and
hygiene content with the former focusing on differentiated content and the
latter focusing on hygiene content across the Mobile Content Networks.
The summit then shifted towards the
regulator’s perspective with a panel discussion comprising eminent
personalities from TRAI, C-DOT and regulatory affairs of telecom companies. The
panelists focused on the regulator’s roles across contentious issues such as IPR,
User Abuse and Pricing of services in the context of User Generated Content. The
big question over whether content should need regulation was also raised by the
panelists. With the barriers between broadcasting and telecom getting reduced
with digital convergence at different levels, panelists debated over the existence
of independent regulations demarcating broadcasting and telecom. They also
brought to light several regulations where networks are mandated with
information security providers. Various
challenges that have emerged in the open source platforms such as Android where
it becomes increasingy difficult to take any action on the concerned parties
incase of any malpractice were addressed. In response to questions from the audience
about the misuse of customers’ privacy through telemarketers, the panelists
highlighted the various penalty measures that are being levied upon telemarketing
firms. They also pointed the regulatory distinction imposed on the numbers by
limiting the specific telemarketing numbers to 70 series.
The final panel discussion of the
day focused on the challenges and benefits of providing a great mobile user
experience with the best content. The panelists focused on the value and
content being a function of depth, breadth and height of experience. They also
addressed the infrastructure issues that stand in the way of providing mobile
experience.
The event concluded with
networking drinks as the delegates thanked the Virtue Insight team for putting
their efforts in making Mobile Content Summit a grand success.