Koohiji Group appoints Jigar Budhdev as new Digital City business head

A strategic business unit of the Dubai based Koohiji Group, Digital City has exclusive rights to distribute Bollywood and Indian digital entertainment content for Hungama Mobile, South Asia's premier mobile entertainment company. It also has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Rotana Holding Co., sole licensee of all digital source content covering Arabic music, video and other generic digital contents, to distribute Rotana's Ring Back Tone (RBT) content across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

"Jigar Budhdev has extensive experience in the field of Mobile Value Added Services, having contributed to the evolution of the Indian Mobile VAS industry since its inception," said Mr SS Rajkumar, CEO and Vice Chairman of the Koohiji Group. "As regional manager, Western India for IMImobile, he played a big part in making it the biggest VAS provider in India".

Budhdev believes that Mobile VAS is the key source of growth for mobile operators. "It is a global trend," said Budhdev. "The popularity of innovative mobile services has proved to be a key factor in customer retention for mobile operators and has led to dramatic increases in the ARPU's (Average Revenues Per User). The global market for RBTs alone is estimated to reach US$ 2.4 billion by 2008 so you can imagine the long term potential," he said.

As Deputy General Manager of Digital City, Budhdev's responsibility will include the acquisition of content, tie-ups with operators and establishing a content delivery platform which will allow all mobile operators in the region easy access to Digital City's complete content range. He will also be responsible for establishing Digital City as one stop Mobile VAS shop which meets the needs of all mobile operators and content re-sellers across the MENA region.