Operators of mobile value-added services gear up before Eid

Mobile entertainment will get a boost this Eid as several music albums, music videos and other entertainment pieces will be released ahead of the biggest religious festival for Muslims.

Value-added service companies that provide digital content on the mobile platform said a good portion of their business comes at this time as people are mostly in a festive mood. EB Solutions Ltd, a VAS company, is also preparing to launch the first 'mobile movie' in the country on Banglalink platform.

Chowrangi, the first mobile based movie serial produced by EB Solutions, will be released next Friday and Banglalink customers will exclusively enjoy the movie free for a month, said Rafiur Rahman Khan, managing director of the company.

Several music albums were launched in the last few years using the mobile platform. "We are expecting a commercial film to be released on mobile within the next few years."

Khan, who is also the general secretary of Content Provider and Aggregators Association of Bangladesh (CPAAB), said the local music industry had become dull and VAS providers have helped modernise and renovate it.

Business increases by more than 20 percent than average during Eid, he said.

During Ramadan, people are mostly drawn to Islamic content for their welcome tunes. But the night before Eid, there is a shift as VAS operators see massive welcome tune downloads in other segments, Khan said.

After the launch of 3G technology in the country in 2013, mobile subscribers are enjoying music videos and this trend is increasing as well. If the government allows 4G within a short time, new entertainment segments will come, VAS providers said.

Currently, the VAS market size is more than Tk 200 crore a year and it is growing around 20 percent every year, said Mahbubul Alam, president of CPAAB.

Festivals like Eid and New Year, both Bangla and English, also boost their business, Alam said.

Within the next few years, people will be fully dependent on mobile entertainment and they are preparing for that, Alam added.

Currently, people can enjoy all the local satellite television channels through mobile phones with some international television channels, and here, VAS providers are also playing an important role.

People are also using mobile applications for their entertainment, using video on demand technology, which just hit the market. These are also being provided by the VAS providers.

VAS providers currently collect entertainment items and mobile phone users get those through the operators' network. Their total earnings are distributed with the content generators, VAS providers and mobile phone operators.

VAS providers said mobile phone operators take a major share of their earnings.

In case of Grameenphone, VAS operators and content generators get around 50 percent of the total earnings, and the operator takes the rest. At Robi, VAS providers and content generators get 35 to 40 percent.

In Malaysia, mobile operators get 30 percent and VAS operators 70 percent. In India, VAS operators used to get only 20 percent a few years back and they increased it to 70 percent now.