Indiantelevision.com Team

(16 June 2007 8:12 pm)

MUMBAI: Advertisements on mobile networks are at a very nascent stage, speakers at a seminar said.

The event, organised by Internet & Mobile Association of India and ACL Wireless, featured a panel discussion on 'Enterprise Mobility.'

Tata Teleservices Ltd president VAS Pankaj Sethi moderated the panel consisting of Hutchison Essar Ltd vice president-VAS SP Narayanan, Thomas Cook eBusiness head Amitabh Pandey, Airtel enterprise services national head VAS Rajiv Sehgal, HDFC senior VP and marketing head Ajay Kelkar and Netcore managing director Rajesh Jain.

Jain implored upon all corporates to create a friendly relationship with the customers through the mobile network. He talked about how "sounds of silence can be converted into sounds of money".

He said, "Small ads, news and movie theatre updates, shopping discounts and serial timings should be provided by the mobile operators. Mobile-centric advertising has the potential to grow annually to Rs 20 billion. The pull mails should be converted to push mails and spam into subscription."

He further explained that there can be growth in mobile advertising when customers pay for each detail they receive in their mobiles. Corporates can also double their income via network marketing and advertising.

However, Pandey seemed apprehensive about mobile advertising as the application used in mobile commerce is still traditional and people are conservative about new technology.

Sharing his experience at the Indian Railways when 10 months back, Pandey stated that only 15 tickets were sold through mobile. He said, "Only when we get some new application and make the customer aware and friendly to the application, India can boast of mobile advertising."

Representing the mobile industry, Narayanan presented a different picture. He said, "Integrating mobile services with corporate ads will be mutually beneficial."