In our 5 minutes with profiles, MEF members talk about their business, their aspirations for the future and the wider mobile industry. This week, CEO Atul Madan introduces telco solutions specialists BlackNgreen – BNG Advanced Mobile Solutions Pvt Ltd.
What does BNG do?
BNG Advanced Mobile Solutions Pvt Ltd. is providing next-gen telecom solutions to 110+ Telcos in more than over 80 countries. Our product line consists of Real Money Mobile gaming with both peer-to-peer and tournament models, Contesting Services, Voice Changing Solution (Magic Voice) and a bouquet of consumer oriented services in the Voice and Rich Media services space.
BNG platforms like AdTech, Call Completion, Digital SDP and state of art CVM solutions have proven their value in multiple Telecom networks. Our solutions are helping telcos around the world achieve healthy revenue growth with a clear focus on a high level of Customer Experience. We align our objectives with those of the telcos whether it ranges from user engagement to NPS to ARPU increase.
When did you launch and what growth have you seen?
The company was founded by two young entrepreneurs Rahul Gupta and Karthik Shankar in 2011. As an innovation-focused VAS product and telecom solutions provider, the company aims to stimulate growth for telecom operators globally. In a journey now spanning 10 years, we work with more than 110+ Telcos in 80 countries, this itself is a testimony of our extreme customer focussed approach in creating solutions which have proven their value with such a large customer base. From Voice to Rich Media to gaming to Enterprise solutions, the technology spread of BNG Advanced Mobile Solutions Pvt Ltd. knows no bounds.
What are your main goals?
As an innovation-focused organization delivering Consumer and Business oriented services and platforms, the company aims to stimulate growth for telecom operators globally. After establishing a global presence, the company is now making a breakthrough in the geography and technology spread by leveraging innovative and patented solutions and processes.
We are moving towards reaching a major milestone of touching 1 Bn consumers worldwide through our solutions. Our goal is to be the partner of choice for each of our Telco customer and be amongst the top 3 in each of the markets where we operate. We believe the telcos should be the center of the universe and bear the fruits of their investments in infrastructure, ESG, and CSR instead of allowing OTT players to utilize all their resources and in term do not share much of the revenue with them.
What began as a single product with Magic Voice over 10 years ago, has now evolved into something completely different altogether. The underlying thought was always to empower the telco and its consumers. What began as a VAS provider has evolved into a Platform Solution Provider (PSP) for both the Consumer and Enterprise segments.
With a Consumer first, Platform first mindset, significant time and resources are involved in R&D to fine-tune the platform while developing cutting-edge solutions to everyday issues the operators and consumers face.
Where do you see your business in three years’ time?
We see BNG touching a billion subscribers and be amongst the top 3 in each market where we operate. With the advent of 5G, Gaming, and Enterprise services and increased focus on CVM, we will continue to evolve our solutions with the latest technology trends like micro-services, AI/ML and cloud enabled services. Our objective is to always stay aligned to the latest developments in the industry and evolve and develop solutions according to the industry needs.
Over the next few years, we are looking at four pillars for our growth trajectory i.e. Gaming, Customer Value Management (CVM), Enterprise Solutions and Telecom VAS both in Rich Media and Voice Domain.
In the competitive world of telecom services, the biggest challenges are revenue growth, usage, user retention and customer delight… BlackNGreen helps operators stay ahead of the technology curve and business cycles by working on solutions aligned to the technology and services of tomorrow like 5G, Cloud, Gaming, CVM and digital services.“
The numbers in the public domain are clearly showing that the Gaming industry has the potential to grow exponentially. According to a research report, user penetration will be 32.4% in 2022 and is expected to hit 35.6% by 2027.
What aspect of mobile is most exciting to you right now?
The world today looks at mobile as an essential service, life without mobile can’t even be imagined. Mobiles have penetrated every aspect of our lives from education to entertainment to conducting business. We have invested heavily in the entertainment domain during our first few years of our journey and it will continue for us.
Next generation Mobile Gaming, in a completely different and creative avatar, is a big focus for us and over the last few years we have also diversified into CVM and Enterprise oriented solutions to help our customers engage with their consumers fruitfully with a high level of focus on consumer experience.
Personalization is a major differentiating factor as consumers do not want all-you-can-eat product types. Their expectations have changed and will continue to change as technology becomes more accessible to one and all. The mindset now is to provide products and services that THEY personally want as opposed to offering something that you expect everyone to consume.
What’s the most critical issue that will hit mobile within the next 12 months?
In the competitive world of telecom services, the biggest challenges are revenue growth, usage, user retention and customer delight. Increasing competition from OTT players and internet platforms and other cloud-enabled services, protecting investments in the ever-changing technology sector and shorter product lifespans are some issues that telecom operators worldwide will continue to deal with.
BNG Advanced Mobile Solutions Pvt Ltd. is a customer-focused services provider that leverages years of global experience to bring real value to telecom operators and their customers while keeping in mind the challenges being faced by telecom operators.
BlackNGreen helps operators stay ahead of the technology curve and business cycles by working on solutions aligned to the technology and services of tomorrow like 5G, Cloud, Gaming, CVM and digital services.
We further help in adding new revenues for operators by introducing new services in segments such as entertainment, spirituality, productivity, education, and health– services that generate true consumer delight.
The cost of marketing (consumer acquisition and retention in particular) is also increasing significantly as customers come to grips with the digital world and increased fraud management measures being put in place. This coupled with shorter customer life cycles are also major challenges to be overcome. With regulators also limiting the modes and number of times a customer is targeted for promotions, it adds another layer of complexity in acquiring, engaging and retaining customers.
Apart from your own, which mobile companies are the ones to watch in the year ahead?
We think that there are many other companies like us that are doing a great job in enabling Telcos to provide more value for their subscribers. However, it will be imprudent for us to specifically pick some from them, but we believe that together we all can bring significant value to the Telecom industry.