Honest 836 Report post Posted December 12, 2010 PCOs to get a new lease of life with 3G: Ericsson NEW DELHI: Third generation (3G) services can give Public Calling Offices (PCOs) a facelift with its owners offering features like video calling at cheap rates to its customers, telecom equipment maker Ericsson today said. The Swedish firm has started a pilot project to demonstrate that PCO owners could use 3G services to offer video calling to its customers, who are often daily wage labourers who do not own a mobile phone. "We noticed that people using PCOs are often migrants from smaller towns. They work on daily wages and depend on public booths to make calls since they can't afford mobile phones ," Ericsson India Vice-President (Communications, Corporate Affairs and Business Development) P Balaji told PTI. Through video calls, they not only get to talk but also see each other, which is a real value proposition, he added. The pilot was conducted using eight PCOs equipped with 3G video phones spread in both urban and rural areas, focussing on a specific migrant corridor. Asked if the company was in discussion with other operators, Balaji said the company's focus remains on setting up infrastructure. "We are discussing the pilot with various players telling them how such services at PCOs can act as a new stream of revenue generation. If any operator needs help, we would cooperate," he said. According to data collected by the company, the number of PCOs in the country had reduced to 5.5 million (December 2009) from 6.1 million (March 2009). The largest player in the segment is BSNL, which has about 1.92 million PCOs, followed by Reliance (1.8 million), Tata (1.5 million) and Bharti (0.10 million) and others. "With increasing penetration of mobile phones, PCOs as a business is losing steam. But there is still a huge population which depends on PCOs and if video calling can be provided at cheap rates using 3G technology , it will be a new lease of life for them," Balaji said. State-run operators BSNL and MTNL , along with private player Tata Docomo are offering 3G services in the country. Other operators like Bharti Airtel , Vodafone and Idea Cellular plan to start their services next year. Courtesy : The Economic Times Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parin 857 Report post Posted December 12, 2010 Yes this idea is really good Hope this gets implications soon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
::Hitesh:: 1,763 Report post Posted December 12, 2010 Yes, me too like the idea of having video calling near you, only problem is other end also need same pco, also as 2nd person will be using 3rd party pco it will be chargable for both, so I think it will be less successful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Honest 836 Report post Posted December 12, 2010 Wapas se PCO ka jamaana aa jayega. Bus fark sirf itna rahega ke ab slogan hoga : लो कल्लो बात, सिर्फ पांच रुपये में Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
parin 857 Report post Posted December 12, 2010 ५ नहीं २ होने से चलेगा चलेगा क्या दोडेगा Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Karthik R 246 Report post Posted December 12, 2010 PCOs should maintain the value of coins inserted at Rs.1 just like the case now with voice calls but reduce the pulse from 1 min to 30 seconds, if not ecomically viable otherwise. I think it will work wonders Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
