Mobile advertising in India is all set to see an increase with the arrival of MVNOs and 3G, say observers.

So far, mobile has attracted low advertising spends because of its format of advertising—simple text SMS or basic pictures.

Khemka said: “With 3G, a paradigm shift is expected in mobile advertising.”

Vasudevan said: “3G will open up new avenues for advertisers, such as rich media content and video over the mobile phone.”

With 3G, advertisers may be able to subsidize the cost of downloading rich media content by subscribers.

Saxena said: “For example, a song from a new Bollywood film can be put up for download with an ad of a soft drink company as a pre-roll or a mid-roll. Consumers can download this song for free while the soft-drink company pays for the download.”

Recently, the Indian government approved MVNOs to operate in India, though the detailed guidelines for this are pending. Generally, MVNOs provide mobile phone services by buying airtime from existing telecom operators. They then market it by leveraging their brand and distribution network.

The MVNOs too will change India’s mobile advertising scenario substantially, according to market players. They can help grow the mobile marketing industry as well as the subscriber base in the country.

Citing the Blyk mobile model, Saxena said that MVNOs can even offer the entire mobile service for free if the subscriber opts to receive a certain number of advertisements per week.

Blyk is an operator in the United Kingdom that sells mobile network for free. It gives customers free airtime in exchange for accepting up to six advertising messages per day. Blyk generates all of its revenue from advertisers. The company’s priority is to ensure it has a user base that advertisers will pay a premium to reach.

Since MVNOs will be dependent on VAS and advertising to create a differentiator, it will be an important contributor to the growth of mobile advertising.