Why content will be king for telcos?
A new signboard has come up recently in front of my house. It is an ad of Nokia N Series phones with quotes like “maphotonline” and “Join your favourite places with your photos with your friends”. It is just an example of how the companies are using content as a value addition to their already existing services.
Right now in the telecom industry, almost all companies are frantically looking for tie-ups with content providers to add value to their 3G services. Telcos have covered the markets for 3G phones and have come up with various models with various features. But the crux lies in the fact that 15% of India’s close to 300m users already have 3G enabled phones and if no more value is added, the phone sales will also go down.
The content providers provide services like entertainment, TV schedules, sports, movies, serials, travel, downloads, astrology and cricket amongst others.
Leading operators are also in talks with Nokia to provide Ovi services. Ovi is a single-click application that allows users to experience the complete range of internet services—e-mail, chat, downloads, music, navigation, entertainment and games, among other services.
In India, offerings to the customers have to be very rich in terms of quality otherwise noone will use a 3G phone.
