Ex-Tata Docomo VAS Head Joins Onward Mobility As Chief of Strategy

The Mumbai-based mobile value added services (VAS) start-up Onward Mobility has announced the appointment of Zubin Jimmy Dubash, a well-known personality in the telecommunications sector, as its Chief Strategy Officer.

Dubash was previously the Vice President and National Head for New Product Innovations for Tata DoCoMo. He was responsible for strategy and innovation for all the brands of Tata Teleservices including Tata DoCoMo, Tata Photon, Tata Indicom and Virgin, in emerging areas such as m-commerce, NFC (near field communications), mobile 2.0, mobile TV, m-advertising, m-learning, m-health and m-governance. He has previously worked at Vodafone India, British Gas Broadband and Tata Teleservices Ltd.

Arun Menon, CEO, Onward Mobility, said, "Dubash's experience in the India VAS story, over the last decade, will add value to the Onward Mobility journey."

Onward's business model is the distribution of its own and third-party apps and VAS via 10,000 retail counters in eight Indian states. The company's apps - MobiCop, MobiRecord and MobiSecret - are related to games, entertainment, music and education. Retailed under the brand 'Mobi', these apps and VAS are available in outlets in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Dubash said, "The retail space for selling digital goods and services is an untapped opportunity, and Onward Mobility's concept-selling channel with distribution and billing would be a refreshingly new option for VAS providers to exploit.

Onward recently raised Rs 18 crore in its series A round of funding from IndoUS Venture Partners and Qualcomm's venture capital investment arm, Qualcomm Ventures. In 2010, the company had raised over $1 million from Mumbai Angels.