The Indian VAS space is gaining global attention with overseas players keen on entering India. One such VAS player, Nimbuzz based out of Netherlands is set to expand into Indian territory with its rich and unique VAS offerings. TelecomTiger speaks to Nimbuzz Founder and CEO, Mr. Evert Jaap Lugt. 

Q.1) The first obvious question which comes in the mind of Indian audience is what is Nimbuzz all about and what is your business model?

Ans. Nimbuzz is free calls, chat and more! All your IM communities are aggregated into a single contact list with icons indicating real-time "presence" - whether contacts are online or offline and from which communities. Using the Internet connection of your mobile phone Nimbuzz lets you call, chat and more, with all your IM buddies for free from one integrated contact list.  Nimbuzz offers an all-in-one solution on the mobile phone, PC and Web, for calling, conference calling, instant messaging, group chat and chat rooms, and photo and file sending across multiple IM communities, including Skype, Windows Live Messenger (MSN), Google Talk, Yahoo!, AIM, Jabber and ICQ, plus 23 social networks including Facebook and Myspace.

We are an advertising based model. Therefore there will be enormous mobile advertising opportunities going forward given our growth and size of our user base.  Our belief is that mobile advertising will be a bigger part in the pie. The ad rates you get for cost-per-click can be very attractive. But what you need for that is a large community in a particular region. Our focus in 08'' is on growth and scalability. Moving forward, our focus in 09' will be on realizing the resulting revenue opportunity. Advertisements will appear when you log-in but there will also be traditional and non-traditional online advertising opportunities when accessing Nimbuzz on the PC or web (including widgets). We will generate these users both organically and via strategic distribution deals with leading social networks and mobile operators. We are also treating this as an "open call" to brands with customers that might benefit from Nimbuzz innovation and technology. We offer a 50/50 revenue split model for social networks that integrate our dedicated platform. There are some major announcements in the pipeline with key operators and online community relationships.