Telecom Asia writes:
The mobile world has divided into two camps: on the one side are the industry elders struggling with a lack of fresh customers, and the headache of how to get more out of existing one. On the other side are the emerging market operators, whose biggest problem is rolling out networks fast enough.
…
Analysts believe the ecosystem and the overarching business model is where mobile’s problems lie.
My view on the article: India can be thought of as two markets — Mature (Urban) and New (Rural). This is akin to how Vodafone probably views the world — Mature (Developed Countries) and New (Emerging Markets). In Mature markets, the focus needs to shift to Services. For New markets, the focus has to be on Devices and Voice. So, in India, the “i-mode” equivalent with its Internet-like business models needs to be the focus for the Mature markets. The ARPU ratios will be something like this (in my opinion): Developed Mature will be 4x of Emerging Market Urban, which will be 4x of Emerging Market Rural.
