MobileFirst, the strategic alliance of four leading cellular operators -- BPL Mobile, Escotel, RPG Cellular and Spice Telecom -- has officially launched India's first matrimonial service on mobile to its 30 lakh (3 million) subscribers across the country.

Christened Life Partner, the value-added service will enable MobileFirst subscribers to find their prospective life partners through their handsets, using the SMS.

Spice Telecom managing director Sean Dexter told the media in Bangalore on Wednesday that the alliance subscribers could enroll into the service by sending the command "LIFE" to 6311.

Thereupon, the customers will receive a series of questions to create their own profile or matrimonial advertisement.

"The profile will list down the age, mother tongue, location, qualification, occupation, caste and a small description of the aspirant. They will be allocated a unique user ID corresponding to their individual description," Dexter disclosed.

Once the aspirant has created his/her profile, s/he will be able to create a profile of his/her prospective partner on similar lines to help him/her to search his/her prospective mate.

To find a match, the user will have to send 'F' to 6311 to view the different profiles and initiate a discussion with the prospective match by sending 'T' followed by the user ID of short-listed match to the same number.

"The entire operation can be executed in 10-12 steps, with each step charged as one SMS. There is no registration fee. As a low-cost option to place a matrimonial ad, the service is economical with a countrywide reach, spawning 700 towns and cities," Dexter asserted.

As a value-added service, the product life cycle approach is part of the alliance's strategy to leverage the infrastructure of the partners and make optimal utilisation of their existing network capacities.

With mobile penetration exceeding that of the Internet, the alliance is upbeat on increasing its subscriber base and the traffic generated by such value-added services. The SMS penetration is about 70 per cent on its network and above the all-India average of 50 per cent.

During the soft launch over a fortnight, about 10,000 subscribers have registered for the service.

The Life Partner service will create niche communities of common interest, which leverage mobile telephony for interaction and sharing information with each other.

"MobileFirst is leveraging all its member networks, to share infrastructure, systems & solutions, and integrate its customer relationship management to realize operational efficiencies and deliver enhanced value to its subscribers," BPL Mobile CEO F B Cordoso stated.

The alliance is also planning to extend the matrimonial service to non-resident Indians through its 400 international networks, especially in the US, UK, and the Middle East.

Ever since MobileFirst came into being four months ago, the alliance partners have witnessed a 25 per cent cumulative growth in the subscriber base.

"Our traffic on the national long distance through our seamless roaming has seen a jump of 25 per cent from 7-8 million minutes. Currently, value-added services constitute 5-10 per cent of our total or gross revenues. This is expected to go up to 10-15 per cent in the near future," Escotel director Rajan Swaroop said.

Currently, the alliance partners generate a combined revenue of Rs 2500 crore (Rs 25 billion) with a 3-million subscriber base. Revenue from value-added services account for Rs 125-250 crore (Rs 1.25-2.5 billion).

The alliance also offers an Alert E-service for accessing e-mails on cell phones. It is exploring the possibility of launching a similar service on job opportunities.

With its footprint spanning across the country and covering key states, MobileFirst offers common customer relationship management platform to provide home network experience anywhere, anytime to its subscribers.

The alliance has a 20 per cent market share of the total 15-million cellular base in the country. It has also a strategic partnership with Hutch and Idea for extending the value-added services.