“blackNgreen is a Dubai based mobile-value-added service provider. It works closely with large telcos around the world on entertaining and utility solutions. The company which began its operations in 2011 has a significant presence in Africa and Asia Pacific market and is growing rapidly in Latin American and Middle Eastern markets for past 1 year.”
“In an exclusive interview with TechObserver.in's Sanjay Singh, Rahul Gupta, Co-Founder, blackNgreen says, “Our aim is to grow and span into 12-14 new countries in the Latin American market and 3-5 new countries in the Middle Eastern region in coming 6 months. As for India market, our Magic Call app is doing great and we continue to improvise on its features to cater to its ever-increasing audience.”
blackNgreen is a completely innovation-driven organization that empowers telecom companies around the world to deliver highly entertaining, utility and breakthrough solutions. We are already well penetrated in Africa and Asia Pacific with the current focus on Latin American and Middle Eastern markets. The organization constantly aims at building a high performance driven and engaged work culture that fosters entrepreneurship, independence of work expression and thought leadership. The idea of our flagship product Magic Voice came to me in 2009, it took two years of hard work to develop it into a working telecom grade solution and the company came into existence in 2011. Since then we have come this far with sheer hard work, persistence and with the great job done by our amazing team.
How the business is doing and what is your expectation from the current financial year?
We are growing at a stable rate of 30% Y-o-Y. This year we focused on expansion into Latin American and Middle Eastern markets and our efforts are starting to give results. The services are being well received throughout the region with several new telecom groups coming onboard.
In India, the VAS market has faced a serious challenge; regulators have completely rein-in Telcos especially after the number of complaints against VAS increased. What is your view on this, where do you see this market erred in India?
Yes, you are absolutely right. The challenge with the Indian VAS market was the ever-increasing smartphone penetration that left the traditional SMS/WAP based services less relevant. Most companies did not innovate enough as per changing consumer behaviour and preferences, which led to their downfall. There is still a huge market for VAS in India and I see tremendous potential for services if only we cater to these changing consumer needs. A case in point being our Magic Call App. We launched the app recently and it has already been downloaded by over 3 Million users with 20 Million calls and 80 Million Minutes of Usage on the app in the past 6 months since launch.
How do you look at the gloabl VAS market?
With the ever-increasing telecom penetration, the VAS around the globe is exploding. The world is taking a keen interest and curiously waiting to experience more innovations on Mobile phones. The traditional SMS/WAP based services are losing significance in this new age. Operators are quickly becoming part of this value chain by opening up billing integrations through 3rd party billing aggregators as well as opening billing for play stores. There is always scope for unique and innovative services. Services need to be out of the box, unique and relevant to the market and delivered to its consumers in an easy fashion along with localisation, which is the key to success for any VAS offering. According to recent research by OrbisResearch on Global Mobile Value Added Services, the MVAS market will likely project the digits of $8340 million by 2022 from 3530 Million USD in 2014.
What are your company's future plans?
blackNgreen has always focused on being a global organization and has continued to grow at a very rapid pace. Our goal is to continue innovating new products and technologies, taking them live with the biggest telecom Operators and to the farthest corners of the world. In coming six months, we are looking to expand rapidly into LATAM market where we had little presence until last year. Our aim is to grow and span into 12-14 new countries in that market and 3-5 new countries in the Middle Eastern region. As for India market, our Magic Call app is doing great and we continue to improvise on its features to cater to its ever-increasing audience and there are a few more products lined up for this year.
