Your cell phone could soon become your wallet. A certain amount of money could be "loaded" on it and a message sent from your phone to a bank would allow you to make payments. "Your phone will be your smart card," says Kunal Ramteke, the Mumbai-based head of marketing at BPL Mobile.

Anil Nayar, president (mobility), Bharti's cellular services, wants to give its subscribers a break from receiving calls which they would rather not answer. So, they would soon get a code number. Only calls that come with this code will reach the subscriber, while others would be routed to the voice-mail system. Nayar also wants to ensure that a subscriber can get his favourite pizza or his car repaired wherever he may be by just making one call. Free
of cost.

In Pune, Birla-Tata-AT&T Vice-President (business development) Rajat Mukarji wants to make it possible for subscribers to know whether they are near a shop that sells their favourite trouser brand by merely sending a short message on their mobile phone. And Balu Nayar, who heads the value-based services division of Hutchison Max, is developing games that two or more people can play together. On their mobile phones. While on the move.

Would you like to have two mobile numbers for one handset? Or would you like to have one number on two different handsets? Take your pick. Everything seems possible in the wire-free world. Marketing and business development honchos of cell-phone service providers are trying to out-think each other in value addition.

Technology WHAT'S BEING PLANNED Value-added services that cell-phone companies are working on: 1 Mobile as credit card: Money is loaded on the mobile and an SMS from the user authorises payment. 2 Screening code: Calls get screened by assigning a code. Unwanted calls get diverted to voice mail. 3 2-in-1 or 1-in-2: Two mobile numbers for one handset or one number on two different handsets. 4 Interactive games: Games that can be played by two or more people while on the move.

The turf in this race for the big idea is the short messaging service (SMS), the application that allows a user to send and receive messages on the cell phone. The SMS market in India is growing at a phenomenal rate of 15 per cent every month. Each cellular service operator in Mumbai claims to be generating close to one crore short messages a month. The turnover in other parts of the country is also very high. Little wonder then that cell-phone operators are building value-added services around SMS. Send a message and get information on stock markets, sports, films, horoscopes, traffic position, even your bank balance.

This value addition is necessary in a market dominated by good old-fashioned price cuts. In the past year, cell-phone companies have cut tariffs ruthlessly to amass subscribers. But it was only a matter of time before rival companies offered comparable rates. At the same time, value-added services are raking in greater revenues for mobile operators. The roaming facility, for instance, brings in more than 20 per cent of the total revenues of cell-phone operators.

The speed at which communication technology is evolving, even SMS might soon be a thing of the past. The next big idea appears to be voice command. No more tedious punching of keys. Just ask for the information you want, even dictate your e-mails on the phone. The Hong Kong-based Hutchison Max, which operates cellular services in Mumbai, Gujarat, Delhi and Kolkata, has launched a service that allows a subscriber to ask for the latest news, get the latest stock quotes, know how a cricket player has performed in a match and listen to your horoscope for the day.

At the other end, the subscriber's voice is scanned by sensitive sensors that have been programmed to recognise 80,000 pronunciations and have a vocabulary of 2,000 words. After the natural speech recognition technology has listened to a person for a few days, the sensors automatically recognise his preference for information. "Our subscribers will soon have personal secretaries of their own," says Asim Ghosh, managing director of Hutchison.

Another happy hunting ground for companies offering value addition to subscribers is interactive games. Games have driven mobile-phone usage the world over and India is going to be no different. "We are developing games that you can play with your buddies," says Balu Nayar. Hutchison has developed a platform for interactive games and is working on several new games to entice customers. "People prefer playing games with others, not alone against a computer. The real thrill is in winning a game against real people. A range of games is being developed that will be interactive and would be played among several people," says Ramteke.

There's good news for foodies too. Cell-phone operators are working on ways to bring their customers closer to the junk food they love to eat. For instance, one of the services being planned by Birla-Tata-AT&T allows a subscriber in its Maharashtra circle to order a pizza and then authenticate his credit card number through an SMS to the issuing company. Within minutes he gets a call for his confirmation.

Separating the men from the boys are utilitarian services that are being planned by some companies. For example, BPL Mobile is working on the concept of payments through the mobile phone. By sending an SMS to the entity holding the money, a subscriber can make a payment even if he is thousands of miles away. Ramteke likes to call it "mobile money". "You can control your wallet through your phone," he says.

BPL Mobile, which offers mobile services in Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra, has other marketing tricks up its sleeve. It will soon become the first in the country to offer its customers a 15 Kbps 24-hour Internet connectivity on its mobile phones. "We are launching GPRS (general packet radio service) which will allow consumers to be connected to the Internet at all times. The GPRS we launch will be unique to India," says Girish Rangan, chief executive officer, BPL Mobile. Bharti, which offers mobile services across India, too is planning to introduce GPRS in several cities.

But there is a hitch. To be able to receive the Internet service on their mobiles, users must have more advanced handsets that cost Rs 10,000-20,000. So, for the time being, BPL Mobile is forging tie-ups with movie theatres in Mumbai to allow its subscribers to book tickets through SMS.

Other companies are looking at more everyday issues like dual-use and double number. "We will soon be able to provide subscribers with the facility of having two numbers on the same SIM card. One could be your personal number," says Mukarji. Birla-Tata-AT&T offers mobile services in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, and is scheduled to launch mobile services in Delhi in 2002.

Birla-Tata-AT&T Chief Executive Officer Sanjeev Aga is optimistic that the lucrative Delhi market will provide his company the opportunity to further expand these value-added services. "Once we launch services in Delhi, we will have greater interaction with application providers and could therefore incubate and roll out more ideas," he says.

At Bharti, apart from diverting unwanted calls to voice mail, Anil Nayar is trying to ensure that his 4.5 lakh subscribers in Delhi can stay connected on two different mobile phone instruments with a single number. "The number will be the same for both phones. One of the handsets could be with the subscriber and the other with his secretary or driver," he says.

There is also a plan to allow subscribers to call certain merchant establishments on a toll-free number. For example, one could call a car manufacturer on a single toll-free number anywhere in the country and this call would automatically be routed to the dealer closest to where the call is being made from.

These services will be offered to subscribers in its other circles as well. Bharti operates in Kolkata, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Himachal Pradesh and is scheduled to start services in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Gujarat early next year. "We will make investments in technology that is designed to add value to the lives of our customers," says Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal.

This may just be the beginning. Subscribers would, before long, be able to know precisely where their friends are without making a call. They could also be staring at an alert on their handset when they cross their favourite shop or when they are headed for an impending traffic jam. They could then also know where their children are at the press of a button. Location based services-which allow an operator to pin-point where the subscriber is-are in various stages of testing in developed countries. The accuracy levels are not 100 per cent yet. But they soon will be. Operators in India are watching the developments closely and have already got their thinking caps on.

So, the next time you want to slip away for a movie from office or college, don't forget to leave your mobile handset behind.