Opportunity of outlook analysis for mobile value added service (VAS) in Bangladesh

Abstract

The value added service (VAS) in telecommlmications industry is defmed as nOll-core services Of, in short, all services beyond standard voice calls and fax transmissions. At present, mobile phone service providers arc playing a vital role in the telecommunication services in Bangladesh which is ultimately helping in total development of the country, Total six operators are in service now and more than 40 million subscribers are using this service, Mobile phones today have moved beyond their fundamental role of communications and have graduated to become an extension of the persona of the user. Users buy mobile phones not just to be in touch, but 10 express themselves, their attitude, feelings and interests. "Ibus, there exists a vilst world beyond voice thaI needs to be explored and lapped and the entire cellular industry is heading towards it to provide innovative options to their customers. Brief discussion has been done on the different value Added Service (VAS) available in current Bangladesh mobile market and their key features. The discussion continued to VAS classification in different perspective, factors affecting VAS, VAS Business Model, challenges to VAS growth etc. In the VAS industry, though the mam information passes between mobile operators and subscribers, another third party called Content Provider plays an important role in this field. As a result, Content Provider becomes part and parcel of mobile VAS industry. The opportunities and challenges for the content providers or new entrepreneur have been described in brief. The pwpose or (his study is to measure the usage and growth pattern of VAS in Bangladesh. A survey is carried out to get customer perception about different Value Added Service and its usage pattern from the year 2003 to 2007. Considering (he growth pattern, the VAS grO\"th rate has been determined using lcast square method for the next five years. This study explains that mobile VAS market has achieved exceptional growth from 2005-2006.