One97 Communications, one of the leading VAS providers of India comes out all geared up for the next era of Value Added Services in the country, as its Founder and Managing Director Mr. Vijay Shekhar Sharma catches up with TelecomTiger on its strategies, future plans and the telecom industry at large.

With the VAS industry prepared for its next lap, Mr. Sharma heralds advertising model as the new revenue source for the VAS industry and forebodes that the current VAS pricing of Rs. 6/min will soon see the dust.

Q1. The VAS market in India is too crowded with no differentiation noticeable among the various VAS players. You have the same content, services etc offered by most of the VAS players. In such a scenario how does One97 differentiates itself from others?

Ans: The VAS landscape has been growing for years now and I agree that it’s a crowded space we are thriving in. But we have managed to make our mark in the field because we have consistently held on to few essential points that distinguish us from the rest. Despite the fact that we are running a technical company, we never limited our attention to content and technological aspects alone. Consumers’ experience dominates the center

stage for us. In fact, we travel the extra mile to get the feel of the user experience. Before the launch of any new application, we conduct a BETA testing of the potential consumers to know about the real world likes and dislikes. We were one of the first companies to have a dedicated product team that focuses on the user experience. We always strive to set a new bench mark in consumer experience. If amassed in a line, I would say ‘consumer is the king’ for us.

Besides, we have always sought to offer the right value for the consumer’s money. And our company’s trend of thinking ahead of time has given us the headstart. We have many applications lined up that are way ahead of the time. So that’s how we have unremittingly hooked up our consumers.

Q2. One97 has Network VAS among its product and services portfolio. Could you please elaborate on this offering of yours especially from the point of view of how it will help the operators?

Ans: The VAS as how its largely perceived is not exactly right. While, VAS does include things like content and utility on the phone, it needs to be viewed in a larger holistic way. And this is where ‘network VAS’ comes in the frame.