Stanford University Event: Why Mobile? Why India? Why Now?

I recently attended a program hosted by Prof. Tom Kosnik of Stanford University, Graduate Student Mohit Gundecha and BDA about the future of Indian Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS) Market.  It was a very interesting evening filled with a discussion by a panel of distinguished experts in this area.  Chetan Sharma, a well-known guru and one of the panelists has written an excellent summary of the event.  His post also provides links to the free report released on the occasion and videos of the event.  I also got a chance to have a quick word with him and get his insightful views on some points.

It is matter of great significance that with India poised to overtake US as the second largest number of mobile subscribers (see TRAI pdf press release here) as early as some time next year, how will this market shape up and what opportunities lie for the entrepreneur and startups? 

Thanks to Prof.Kosnik, Mohit Gundecha, BDA and Qualcomm (event sponsor) for organizing this event.

Watch this space, because a number of interesting and related topics are worth discussing (Falling ARPU numbers, which Value Added Services will fly, falling SMS usage, role of WiMAX, what role will the rural markets play, VC investment in India and some of the hottest startups rising there).