Moderated by Gautam Srinivasan from CNBC TV18, the panelists included:
- Raymond Dogra, partner, Communications & High Tech group, Accenture
- Apurv Nagpal, chief executive officer, Saregama India Ltd.
- Kumar Ranjan, executive director and lead, Communications & High Tech group, Accenture in India
- Rajesh Sawhney, president, Reliance Big Entertainment
- Pankaj Sethi, president, corporate services, Tata Teleservices
- Pradeep Shrivastava, chief marketing officer, IDEA Cellular
- Ajay Vasudeva, head of R&D for India, Nokia India
The discussion focused on key issues related to value added services (VAS) that may affect growth such as:
- Readiness of the market and services needed to meet the lifestyle and livelihood demands for the various population segments.
- Availability and readiness of the network infrastructure.
- Integration of the mobile value chain and the role of technology.
- Collaboration between media companies and telecom providers, and ensuing revenue models.
- Current economic climate and regulatory environment in India, and lessons learned from emerging markets outside of India.
The panel discussion was held before an enthusiastic audience of senior level executives representing various companies in the mobile value chain. The discussion strongly established the need for innovation to drive new subscribers, decrease churn and build customer loyalty—especially in untapped sectors of the population.
The panel discussion was preceded by a short presentation by Raymond Dogra who spoke about the mobile VAS opportunities in India.