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By John Lui, 13 May 2003 07:37

NEWS A mobile virtual dating service called TrackUrMate has helped India-based cellular operator Bharti Airtel make five times more money from data services than before, says a senior company executive. "Before we introduced the dating service, users were sending an average of three value-added SMS messages a month," said Rohit Bhatia, AirTel's head of value-added services. "Now, our customers are sending about 15 messages every month." He said this SMS hike translates to about US$0.70 in additional data revenue per month from each of its 850,000 post-paid mobile customers. Unlike conventional messaging, which centres on peer-to-peer communication, Airtel's valued-added SMS services - which cost more than normal text messages - allow users to access content ranging from news, stock prices to travel information. In use, the mobile dating service resembles instant messaging software such as ICQ and Yahoo Messenger, albeit in a text-only menu interface. It allows men and women to create a profile, search for dates and start conversations through SMS messages. The application comes from wireless solutions provider SmartTrust. In recent years, mobile operators around the world have increasingly looked to mobile data services to drive up ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) in light of flagging voice revenues. In mature telecommunications markets such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore telcos are now aggressively mooting the exchange of multimedia content such as coloured pictures and videos through third-generation and GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks, although the success of these advanced data applications remains to be seen. “In most developing markets, mobile data usage, with the exception of SMS, has not been a significant revenue contributor,” said US-based market research firm The Yankee Group. “While nearly 70 per cent of all mobile users in Asia-Pacific are projected to be regular data users in the next three years, their relative contributions to revenue will grow at a slower pace: Data will contribute 30 per cent of total service revenues by 2006,” the firm projected. Taking into account the risks involved with other platforms, Airtel decided to take advantage of the popularity of traditional SMS for its value-added services, Rohit said. "If we had used other technologies like WAP [Wireless Application Protocol] these applications would be limited by specific handsets," he added. "Using a SMS-based interface, TrackUrMate can be incorporated into any handset made in the last two years." According to Rohit, the firm could be merely skimming the surface in terms of revenues as these applications are now confined to post-paid customers. "Imagine if we had introduced this dating application to our pre-paid mobile customers, which consists mainly of youths, the returns would have been much greater,” he said. Airtel currently has a subscriber base of over two million spread over 15 regions across India. Winston Chai writes for CNETAsia.