Family Zone exports full-spectrum parental control into India
Cyber safety and security company Family Zone Cyber Safety (ASX: FZO) has signed a key wholesale deal with Aircel India, a major Asian telecommunications provider with over 90 million subscribers. Aircel selected Family Zone’s after evaluating all available options including globally-known brand names.
The two companies signed a binding term sheet for Aircel to wholesale the “Mobile Zone”, Family Zone’s on-device services package, to its customers.
Under the deal, Aircel may offer Mobile Zone as a value-added or bundled service offering, with the companies agreeing to a revenue-share split and associated service fees also now agreed.
Aircel is expected to take on responsibility for promotion, marketing, provisioning and first-tier support while Family Zone focuses on back-end services and escalated support.
Going to market
With a binding term sheet signed and financials agreed, Family Zone wants to make its on-device technology made available to the Indian market including the delivery of novel new features such as advanced parental control features, all available via Family Zone’s ‘ParentApp’.
Family Zone intends to launch its product in both the post-paid and pre-paid segments while offering two plan options.
The first plan option (Bundled), is included by default within the current price. The second plan option (Value added), will be offered as a chargeable add-on to all existing plans.
Given the nature of the Indian market, Family Zone says that “in a market where users demand convenience and simplicity, the Parent App will allow Indian customers to simply, quickly and interactively monitor, configure and manage their family’s online world.”
To supplement today’s announcement, Family Zone Managing Director, Tim Levy, said, “In recent months we have seen a remarkable shift in awareness around the use of connected devices, cyber safety and cyberbullying in Australia. This change is also being felt in other markets and our telco partners in Asia are making strong steps forward and taking leadership.”
“Our collective ambition is to help their customers and communities manage the challenges of cyber safety, to enjoy the benefits of technology and develop a healthy and safe generation,” Mr Levy added.
Indian market opportunity
India is one of the most dynamic consumer markets in the world — not only because of its large 1 billion+ population but more importantly for Family Zone because millions of Indians are joining the middle-class each year and earning higher disposable incomes.
The gradual shift from agricultural industries into manufacturing is also now spilling over into services industries in India. Internet adoption and download speeds are also growing, and Family Zone is keen to enter the market in the early stages while many other market players are still jockeying for position.
As of December 2016, there were over 1.1 billion mobile wireless subscribers in India. Some of the biggest mobile telecom companies in India include Bharti, Vodafone and Idea, who account for over 600 million Indian subscribers combined.
Number of mobile telecom subscribers in India as of June 2017, by company. (in millions) Statista
According to industry research, the recent market splash made by Reliance Jio in September 2016 where the company snagged over 100 million subscribers in less than a year.
The aggressive market jostling has led some analysts to conclude that “the aggressive pricing and rapid growth of Jio have triggered a consolidation phase and a data revolution in the Indian market.
In addition to Aircel, Family Zone’s broader medium-term strategy for India focuses on “delivering maximum customer scale and stickiness” via telco distribution and working directly with schools in order to showcase its product in the hands of customers and access its targeted addressable audience directly.
Australian retail focus
In terms of its products within Australia, Family Zone empowers parents with a full-spectrum view of all internet activity being done on any devices registered on the system.
Parents are able to track, control and oversee all their children’s web-traffic with Family Zone’s ‘Zone Manager’, a single access point for all user activity.
Currently, a full-service package protecting 3 children and all devices within the home retails for $89 for the first 3 months and $5.95 per month thereafter, including the Home Zone Box (a physical device installed in the home that facilitates network protection and enables internet access management features.