Introduction to VAS

(Value Added Services)

Presented by
S P Padhy, SDE,RTTC
Bhubaneswar

Definition of Value Added Services

Value
added
service
(VAS)
in
telecommunication industry refers to noncore services, which add value to core or
basic tele services, the core or basic
services being standard voice calls and
fax transmission etc.

Characteristics of VAS

Not a form of core or basic service but adds value in

total service offering.
Stands alone in terms of profitability and also stimulates
incremental demand for core or basic services.
Can sometimes be provided as stand alone.
Do not cannibalize core or basic service.
Can be add on to core or basic service and as such can
be sold at premium price.
May provide operational synergy with core or basic
services.

Why VAS ?

VAS is needed :
To maximize revenue and increase average revenue
per user (ARPU) for operators.
For operators to survive in competitive environment.
To Satisfy the growing demand of Customers.
To improve loyalty & reduce churn.
To Continue expansion. Revenue from Mobile VAS
is around 10-14 % of the total revenue of Mobile
Telecom Service Provider.
Mobile revenue through VAS is expected to cross 30
% of the Mobile Telecom Service Providers revenue
in the next 5-7 years.

Effect

There is going to be a win-win situation for

the Mobile Telecom Service Providers,
Value Added Service Providers/content
aggregators, handsets manufacturers,
content
developers/authors/creators,
others associated with mobile contests
and streaming audio and video &
customers.

Value Added Services

SMS,USSD,STK Based Services

IVRS based services
BSNL Tunes
Mobile TV
GPRS & MMS
Some recently lunched BSNL services

SMS, USSD & STK Based

Services

VAS Services SMS (P2P)

Text transmission via handset

Max 160 characters
Store (in SMSC) & Forward (to Recipient)
Asynchronous Messaging (like E-mail)

Sender - Pay /
SMS

Receiver - Free

VAS Services OTA

Interactive and Live
Direct Message display (No Inbox delivery)
OTA Requirement Wireless Internet Browser (WIB)
Available in all 32 K BSNL SIMs
Applications
My portal in CellOne in 32 K SIM
Used for SIM data Modification
Setting downloading through OTA for GPRS / MMS

STK (SIM Tool Kit ) SERVICES

USSD: Unstructured Service Supplementary Data

The USSD bearer is accessed by calling a number that

starts with the asterisk or gate (or hash) characters "*"
or "#" and then a combination of numerals, asterisks
and finally the gate or hash character "#".
The handset recognises such numbers and will use the
USSD bearer instead of a voice call. Instead of calling
another subscriber or a service, the handset
communicates with the USSD infrastructure.

USSD

IVR Based Services

What is an IVR Based Service?

IVR means interactive Voice/Speech
recognition Services

Benefits

The multi model IVRS number has been created

to save the time and money of the end consumer
Callers to the 12555 services get the latest news
updates on varied topics like Politics, Business,
Sports, International & lots more.
Callers can dedicate songs to their friends & loved
ones with a personalized message along with the
song. Songs from various categories can chosen,
i.e. latest, top 10, Bollywood, regional movies etc.

VOICE BASED SERVICES

IVR CODES
@ Rs 5/min

12555

12555

12555 /
1255565

12555 /

SERVICES

Complete
Voice Portal

CHARGES/MONTH

Not applicable

Sports Pack

Rs 25/-

Mobile Radio

Rs 25/-

Value Pack

Rs 49/-

ALERTS/DAY

Not applicable

According to the cricket

and other sports activity,
non match days would
get
3 sports, Can listen
sms
about
to livescore or
commentary @30 paise/
min by Dialling 1255531

Can Dial 1255533

and listen to songs
@30 paise/min

IVR CODES
@Rs 1/min

Not applicable

Rs 20/-

Not applicable

3
1255581
12555 /

Devtional Pack

Rs 20/-

3 alerts a day

Not applicable

12555 /
1255580

Word of the day

Rs 20/-

One sms per day

with meaning
of sms

Not applicable

12555 /
1255580

Did you Know

Rs 20/-

One sms per day

with one unique
information

Not applicable

505 - XXXX XX Media Short codesNot applicable

Not applicable Not

REMARKS

All services can

applicable be accessed
from this
number

1255533

1255532

Customers can dial

505
numbers by
getting
from
FM & info
Television and
enjoy. For exampleSONY TELEVISION
CODE IS 505 2525

DEACTIVATION

1255531

Laughter Club

125554

ACTIVATION

1255535

12555/1255545 or 12555/1255545 or All sms alerts

directnumbers ofdirect numbers of the from 12555
the service.
services comes
service.
Example 1255531 Example 1255531
from either
for cricket. Similarlyfor cricket. Similarly
OnMobile
for other packs.
or OnVoice.
for other packs.

Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable

Charges for subscribing

Charges for subscribing to these

services
Sports Pack: Rs 25/month
VAS Pack: Rs 49/month
Laughter Club: Rs 20/month
Mobile Radio: Rs 25/month
Did U Know: Rs 20/month
Word of the Day: Rs 20/month

(PRBT)

What is RBT?

A Ring Back Tone (RBT) is the audible

ringing that is heard on the mobile /
telephone line by the calling party after
dialling and prior to the call being answered
at the receiving end.

Benefits of RBT

RBT a feel good factor for every caller.

Entertainment without devoting extra
time.
Fulfillment of hobby for music lovers.
Refresh by listening music.

Features of RBT Services

The user can customize his Ring Back Tone.
User can select any of the Filmi Songs, Devotional
Songs, Classical Tunes and any other available sound
file as his BSNL Tunes (PRBT).
The callers will hear the Personalized Ring Back Tone
(PRBT) when they call him instead of the normal ringing
tune.
A user can set default Ring Back Tone for all the callers
or set special tone for any person or group. The user can
even set specific RBT depending on date / time.

Ring tone vs BSNL Tunes (PRBT)

Your ringtone is what you hear when your phone rings when some one calls
you.
BSNL Tune is what someone hears when they call you before you pickup the
phone.
They are not the same as ringtone, but they do indeed complement
Ringtones.
Since Ring Back Tones are neither downloaded nor installed on your handset,
no handset support is required for the same i.e. all handsets support Ring
Back Tones.

BSNL Tunes
Types of BSNL Tunes
Latest
Oldies
Regional
Devotional
Top 20
different voices.

BSNL TUNES
HOW TO ACCESS

1.

Select and set an RBT by sending an SMS with the appropriate

keyword to 56700.
For Activation

SMS

send SMS BT [code]

to 56700

For Deactivation send SMS DACT to 56700

For Name Tones send SMS NT [Name] 56777
1.Subscriber can set an RBT by calling the short code 56700.

Voice

2.When the call is established, the subscriber is taken through a

voice application which interacts with the subscriber.
3.The subscriber is able to set an RBT based on the options provided
by the voice application.
1.Subscriber can select and set an RBT via the internet.

Web

Customer Care

www.bsnltunes.co.in
1.The subscriber needs to access the website and select the
appropriate category and song to set it as the RBT. (linked to all
BSNL circle websites for users to access)
Subscriber can be activated for RBT service via the Customer Care
GUI. This mode could be used if subscriber has no access to any of
the modes of provisioning. This GUI can also be used in setting the
particular tone as RBT as specified by the subscriber or even for
bulk activating a set of subscribers. This GUI would be zone specific.
23

Activation/ Deactivation
Service activation/subscription
SMS BT<space>ACT to 56700
(eg. SMS BT ACT to 56700 to activate basic BSNL
tunes services through which the BSNL default tune
will be provided to the subscriber until he/she
chooses a song of her/his choice)
Service deactivation
SMS BT<space>DACT to 56700
(eg. SMS BT DACT to 56700 to deactivate service)
For accessing the short code 56700 the prepaid
subscriber should have balance of Rs.37/-

SMS

BT ACT

Send to 56700

SMS

BT DACT

Send to 56700

Song selection Voice-search 56799

Tariff (Standard RBT Charges for subscription & song selection)

Service Rental
(Regestration of PRBT service) @ Rs.25/
Song

Rs.12/- per song per month (if more

than one song multiply with number of
songs)

SMS to 56700

Rs. 2/SMS

SMS to 56799 (for searching a Toll Free

song)
IVR 56700 (normal IVR for
PRBT)

Rs. 2/min

No additional charges are levied on the subscriber for

subscribing PRBT/selecting the song by pressing *
26

General Packet
Radio Services
(GPRS)

GPRS. What?

Is the growth in GSM towards 3G/UMTS

Introduced for data connectivity to GSM
users
Can provide upto 171.2Kb/s theoretically
and practically around 115Kb/s.

GSM VS GPRS

GPRS ARCHITECTURE

Note: PCU comes separately in BSC in Nortel

Components of GPRS Network

CCU/PCU:
SGSN:
GGSN:
BG:
CG:
DNS/DHCP: Domain Name Server/

GPRS SERVICES

Communications-E-mail, fax, intranet/ internet ,

BSNL Live, access.
Value added services -Information services,
games, Entertainment services.
Location-based applications Resource
training, Management service, people finder
Advertising - restaurant receiving flashes of
advertisement etc.

GPRS services through content

providers
Wallpapers & Animations, colour logos
Polytones
Truetone
Videos
Javagames
Themes
Phone backup
Stock, news

Content on GPRS
Content on GPRS

Ring Tones [Polytones (multi track tunes),

Truetones (like mp3 ..), Video Tones]
Wallpapers
Animations, Color Logo
Videos
Themes
Games, and many more applications

VAS on GPRS Network

Internet
Mobile TV
Streaming
On demand Video

VAS Services GPRS (Contd)

GPRS Portals

GPRS www.cellone.in
WAP wap.cellone.in

GPRS Brands

CellOne Safari
CellOne Galaxy

Content

Wall Paper
Ringtones (Polytones Multi instruments, Truetones - like
MP3..., Videotones)
Animation, Color Logos
Videos, Themes, Games

Glimpse of BSNLs GPRS Portal

Glimpse of BSNLs GPRS Portal

Glimpse of 3rd Party Portal

VAS Services MMS

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)

Message of Text, Sound, Image, Video etc

Graphs, Tables, Diagram , Maps etc

Phone 2 Phone
Phone 2 e-mail
e-mail 2 Phone

VAS Services GPRS

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

End to End Packet Switching

Higher Speed ( Circuit switching only 9.6 Kbps)

Theoretical 171.2 Kbps

Practical 20-50 Kbps

Always on/connected

Classification

Class A operate and hold both in GPRS and GSM modes

Class B Operate both; hold one at a time
Class C Operate in either mode (GPRS PCMCIA card)

SMS Based Services in Mobile Handset

Phone Back Up : SUB PB to 58989

Sports Update : SUB CRI to 56505
Share & Stock : STOCK 56505
Push e-mail service: SUB BB 51123

Recently launched new VAS Services

Mandi Bhav
This service provides rate list of more than 500 commodities
from over 3000 mandis across India.

To subscribe SMS MANDI to 59696

Charges SMS Rs-2/SMS
Subscription Rs-30/month
Data charges as applicable for application download and
GPRS brousing.

YO SMS
This service allows the subscriber to send SMS with fonts in
different colours,backgrounds,sounds and smileys which
gives feel of MMS.
To subscribe SMS YOSMS to 54444
Charges SMS Rs-2/SMS
Subscription Rs-20/month, Rs-7/Week.

Email on SMS
This application makes it possible for subscriber to receive
mails on his/her mobile as SMS. It is also used to
receive/send mails through mobile phone without using
GPRS.
To subscribe SMS SUBEMAIL to 56688
Charges Subscription Rs-25/month.

Mobile Data Backup & security

In case of theft/loss of mobile handset this solution protects
subscribers data stored in phone book of handset. The stolen
device can also be disabled remotely so that data in phone
book will not be misused.

To subscribe SMS MS to 52222

Charges SMS Rs-2/SMS
Subscription Rs-25/month, Rs-200/Year.
Data charges as applicable.

Call Tricker services

With this service user can play various prerecorded sounds in
the back ground while accepting the call. This sound runs in
the background while talking over phone. The sound can be
traffic, rain,train etc.

To subscribe SMS CALL to 52222

Charges SMS Rs-2/SMS
Subscription Rs-20/month,
Data charges as applicable.

Hamshakal
This application helps to understand the similarities a person
have with others. Hamshakal means look alike.
Hamshakal helps a subscriber to discover people just like
him/her.

To subscribe SMS HMM to 54000

Charges SMS Rs-2/SMS
Subscription Rs-40/month, Rs-10/Week, Rs-100/3Months.
Data charges as applicable.

Mobshare
It allows mobile users to instantaneously share mobile media viz
photos and videos with other BSNL mobile user directly using
a GPRS enabled phone.

To subscribe SMS SUBS NAME to 55563.

Charges SMS Rs-2/SMS
Subscription Rs-25/month.
Data charges as applicable.

SMS counseling
This Service provides counseling service for general
problems/queries of the subscribers from experts across the
globe in six major fields viz love,workplace,family,stress
management,feelings,career,visa etc.
To subscribe SMS HOPE to 54000
Charges SMS Rs-2/SMS, MT Rs-4/SMS

Lost mobile Tracker/HS security

This service provides a solution for security of mobile Handset
whenever a mobile phone is stolen and SIM is changed,
Subscriber gets a SMS about the change of SIM to pre
registered mobile numbers.

To subscribe SMS MS to 52222

Charges SMS Rs-2/SMS
Subscription Rs-25/month, Rs-200/Year.
Data charges as applicable.

Mob ad service
This service helps Entrepreneurs to establish a one to one
communications with the customer,allows you to target the
advertises by any of the following criteria: AGE, GENDER,
REGISTERED HOME LOCATION, CURRENT LOCATION,
USAGE PATTERN, PHONE TYPE, SPENDING POWER; ETC.
PRIMARY TYPES OF ALERTS etc.
To register and subscribe call to 51235
Charges toll free for target customer
Suitable Gratification is awarded to the customer who avails
the service.

Live Darshan
With this service customer can avail Darshan of various
famous deity's and perform online pooja. Viz kashi
vishwanath, Sai, Siddhi vinayak etc.
To subscribe SMS Temple to 59696
Charges SMS Rs-2/SMS
Data charges as applicable for WAP.

APN( ACCESS Point Name)

APNs of BSNL Network

bsnlnet
bsnllive
bsnlmms
bsnlstream