With increased pressure on margins, telecom operators are viewing customer experience as the key differentiator to survive in a highly competitive market. Founded in 2008, mCarbon is focussed on capturing and understanding the behavioural attributes of mobile consumers to provide targeted services. In an interview with tele.net, Rajesh Razdan, founder and chief executive officer, mCarbon, talks about the increased importance of mobile value added services for operators, the company’s key achievements and future plans. Excerpts…

How has the company performed over the past one year? What have been some of its key achievements?

mCarbon is slated to grow at 50 per cent CAGR while targeting a projected revenue of Rs 2 billion over the next 3 years. In the current fiscal year the firm aims to increase its revenues, 20-25 per cent of which will come from South Asia, APAC,  Middle East and Africa. The company has recently tied up with Africa's leading telecom operator Expresso Telecom Group and plans to make significant investments in select international markets for developmental activities and make strategic investments in assets which will provide reasonable international footprint.

What role can big data analytics play in driving growth in the telecom sector? How does mCarbon plan to tap these opportunities?

mCarbon’s usage and revenue uplift solution is powered by its proprietary Greenroom platform that analyses  millions of data points across various customer touch points within a network every day. It uses core analytics engine to derive meaningful information out of it and improve the penetration and revenue uplift as a whole. Analysing the data available helps mCarbon to understand the diverse user behavior across geographies and operators and we collectively use it to design more valuable solutions for the customers during the entire lifecycle of the customer over a particular network.

How are telecom companies leveraging mobile value added services (MVAS) to uplift their revenues?

Value added services breaks the traditional voice only revenue plateau and helps in creating an experience for the user. Backed by market penetration and customized solutions Indian MVAS market is expected to reach approximately $ 9.5 billion in 2015. Value added services are growing as a big revenue generator arm to support the miser operational times for telecom operators. As a major chunk (more than 50 per cent) of the service usage revenue goes to the network provider; VAS comes in as a great model to support the rising losses. The rising mCommerce, mBanking, mEducation, mFinance, mEntertainment markets have grown as huge revenue generators for all mobile industry participants. A substantial amount of all internet based business transactions goes into the kitty of network service provider as it being the pillar of the mobile ecosystem; and also the only touch point between a content developer and consumer. With transition of e-banking and e-commerce industry towards mobile platform, revenue figures for telecommunication companies are expected to see a meteoric rise as the daily transaction count in both these industries is massive. It is imperative for all network providers to focus on customer centricity and changing usage patterns; those unable to gaze market trends are likely to face extreme market pressure and become obsolete in the long run.

Leveraging the power of data; telecom companies can customize MVAS solutions at individual consumer level to enhance user experience and help drive impulsive revenues

What are some of the issues and challenges faced by the company? What steps is the company taking to overcome them?

On a broad level, consolidation has to happen in the telecom sector with more value addition for consumers being rolled out across with data being a prime driver in the next 2 or 3 years. Analytics will play a major role in doing segmented offerings that drive usage and enhance ARPU at a grass root level. Payment enablement and using Telco connect for 3rd party fulfillment will also see a steady rise and the organizations that understand technology and changing digital lifestyles will benefit the most in this current run.

What are the company’s future plans and targets?

We established our presence in South Asia. Besides India, we are there in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Soon, we are planning to expand to Indonesia, Vietnam and other parts of Middle East and Africa. Our huge focus is on prepaid economies of the world.