Dear Shareholders,
Moving forward, ease of use of VAS as well as providing multilingual
content of choice is the key to increasing adoption. We strongly
believe that value chain players should focus on design elements to
address ease of use and multilingual content. VAS players need to
understand consumer behaviour and respond with more targeted service
offerings.
As we stand poised on the threshold of having completed eleven years as
a pioneer in Mobile Value Added Services (VAS), it is time to reflect
upon this exciting and challenging journey and also ponder upon the way
forward for OnMobile to build on its leadership position.
The Mobile VAS industry is becoming bigger each day and with the
increased focus on 3G and data services, the best is yet to come. The
industry is currently at an inflection point and has ample potential to
become larger than the fixed internet, particularly in large, fast
growing emerging markets.
At OnMobile, we have always prided ourselves on providing
best-of-the-breed technology and innovations to our customers. In the
current VAS ecosystem, after the launch of 3G services in India, it has
become even more imperative for the players (mobile operators, content
creators and handset manufacturers) to collaborate in order to achieve
their full potential and garner results. As pioneers and leaders in the
VAS space, we intend to help them do just that and drive revenues. Let
me discuss how.
Becoming a leader with our first player advantage in the Indian market
was one thing. Maintaining a leadership position and addressing
revenue and margin challenges of Indian operators in the
hyper-competitive market environment is quite another. We do this by
offering differentiated and compelling consumer services, on an
on-going basis, and working with them closely to make them successful.
Being an innovator on many fronts, including Technology, Business Model
and Engagement Model, we believe in adapting and constantly
re-inventing ourselves.
To this effect, we acquired the leading 3G video technology and mobile
solutions, developed over eight years, by Silicon Valley based
Dilithium Networks Inc. Dilithium pioneered mobile video, authored the
global standard for 3G video telephony, and is the largest customer
validated 3G video solution for mobile operators globally. This
acquisition will enable OnMobile to deploy Dilithium''s leadership
technology in the rapidly expanding mobile video solutions space,
leveraging OnMobile''s 2G and 2.5G VAS platforms embedded in the world''s
leading telecom operators, accelerating their launch of 3G VAS
services. The acquisition also provides OnMobile with Dilithium''s
extensive patent portfolio over 175 patents in some of the world''s most
advanced video technologies. Services enabled with Dilithium technology
include video calling, video blogging, video optimization, etc.
As part of our international expansion, nine new offices were
registered in Uruguay, Egypt, China, Venezuela, Brazil, Panama, Chile,
Nicaragua, Spain, Cyprus, and Senegal. We have onsite presence in 52
countries today, with international revenues contributing to over 27%
of our global revenues.
The aggressive deployment schedule of the multi-country Telefonica
project in LATAM continues and we are now live in 6 countries in the
region, covering over 80% of their total subscriber base. The current
absorption rate for RBT and Voice & Data services are in line with our
expectations. We already have over 3 million active users in Latin
America today, growing rapidly month-on-month.
We also launched RBT services in Egypt, reaching 30 million subscribers
in a span of just 3 months. Social RBT was launched amongst four
leading telecom operators in India and abroad, allowing them to
increase their subscribers'' base by reaching out to more users
leveraging the viral effect of social networking sites. We also won an
embedded deal with seven of the major handset OEMs for our Video Stacks
in China.
OnMobile is all about being different and understanding a need in the
market even before it becomes apparent. The recent releases from the
OnMobile suite of products include Karaophone - an innovative service
that allows users to play karaoke with their social networks via mobile
or landline phones. The service represents a significant step in the
convergence of entertainment and social networks, and can help media
houses, record labels, and operators stand out amongst competition.
We also launched the RCS Phonebook - a comprehensive and interactive
user Address Book that synchronizes all contact information, including
friends on social networks, into one central location for easy
management and live access. The RCS Phonebook enables mobile providers
to stay ahead of communication''s shift to the Web, by offering its
customers the ability to stay connected and communicate via live
presence updates, live chat, and video streaming.
Our Churn Management Solution achieved great success with a leading
telecom operator in Asia. The operator witnessed an astounding 88%
increase in subscriber recharges and the program added 2% to the
top-line revenue of the operator.
Moving forward, ease of use of VAS as well as providing multilingual
content of choice is the key to increasing adoption. We strongly
believe that value chain players should focus on design elements to
address ease of use and multilingual content. VAS players need to
understand consumer behaviour and respond with more targeted service
offerings.
The rich market experience we have gained in India will be leveraged
successfully across global markets in order to successfully deliver
automated, streamlined and improved operational efficiency. We are
positive and enthusiastic about the future and believe that we can add
great value to telecom operators world wide. The deals being won by us
across the globe indicate that they share the sentiment as well!
Come join me and 1300 OnMobilians across the world take OnMobile to
newer heights in the burgeoning and exciting VAS space.
Arvind Rao
Chairman, CEO & Co-Founder,
OnMobile Global Ltd
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