Cell Phone Makers Propose Free Handsets To 50 M Poor Families

[ravi_patent 28]

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/0...13151940100.htm

Mobile handset makers have sought Rs 5,000 crore from the Universal Services Obligation fund to give free cellular phone and a connection to families under the below poverty line.

In a representation to the telecom regulator, the Indian Cellular Association (ICA) said that the subsidy should be given to 50 million BPL families which will help in removing the digital divide. ICA is the industry association representing handset makers including Nokia and Sony Ericsson.

At present, support from the USO fund is being given only to telecom operators. ICA suggested that support should be given directly to consumers to make it more effective in achieving the objective of reaching communication services to the rural areas.

“Invest in the 50 million BPL families by providing free of cost mobile handsets and connections with 100 free calls per month. The mobile handset provided can be a basic phone with an AM radio, which can be useful for listening to relevant local language content. These radio stations should be made interactive and calls to these radio stations should be made free of cost. This investment of approximately Rs 4,000–5,000 crore has the potential of transforming the life of many families and individuals in this category,” said Mr Pankaj Mohindroo, President, ICA.

ICA suggested that along with a free calling package bundled with handset, skills mapping of these families should be done at the time of providing the connection. “These families have unutilised skills and competencies which can be used, provided these are mapped out and then aggregated in a particular geographical area, say 20 sq. kms. These skills can be made available based on requests received through voice calls and SMS. The IT backbone along with local language call centres need to be created,” said Mr Mohindroo.

The industry body has estimated that free calls will enable these families to save around Rs 15-20 a month, which they would have spent on transportation as access to information in local languages on their mobile phone will cut down on their need to travel. “As saving starts accruing to these families, after the initial period of two years they would be willing to start paying for the mobile services at the rate of at least Rs 25 per month,” ICA said.

Mr Mohindroo said that content providers should also be provided funds out of USO to develop relevant applications in collaboration with rural institutions. To deal with handset repairs and educating the BPL population about mobile usage, ICA suggested that theUSO fund should be utilised to set up service stations in rural areas. “Repairs i.e. after sales service is a key factor in the success of mobile handsets penetration and acceptance: Service centres are virtually absent in the rural areas. The USO fund should be utilised in setting up anchor service stations after a proper study,” ICA said in its letter to TRAI.

In addition to the USO subsidy, handset manufacturers have sought abolition of value added tax of 4 per cent which would enable them to bring down the cost of handset to under Rs 1,500.

[ashoksoft 83]

isn't that going to push the BPL bunch a little more expenses ??? charging the phone, recharging the validity/ talktime etc???