Telecom Future is in Rural Areas
At the beginning of May 11, the penetration level of mobile connection stands at 111% in urban areas and with cut throat competition in voice and reaching saturation in 2G data & high prices of 3G plans- the telecom operators are not looking at revenue from urban areas - rather they just want to retain the existing subscribers.
The penetration level in rural area is only 23% and huge opportunities of revenue from services like selling and procurement information and support for farm commodities, educating farmer community on best practices, delivery of healthcare and education to remote village using mobile connections - has made all the telecom operators join the bandwagon by investing millions of dollars for building required infrastructure and ecosystem. Government is also not behind - SBI, the country's largest public sector bank, with the complete back up of RBI, is currently piloting two initiatives for financial inclusion that are based on the mobile platform - targeted at rural and semi-urban areas to tackle with infrastructure issues at remote rural areas - to enable farmers and villagers to enjoy benefits of banking using their mobiles.
Now the question arises that what kind of services will be successful in rural areas - definitely not the gaming and social networking sites J. With competitive voice plans - operators can focus on services focused on agriculture and healthcare followed by education - as these are the priorities of a villager. Information about the latest prices of commodities like seeds, pesticides, fertilizers at nearest mandies, real time whether forecast along with soil requirements and best optimized technique of irrigation and benefits of crop rotation depending on the farmer location. By providing accurate demand forecasting of different commodities and by comparing the availability of such commodities at national and local level and suggesting cultivating such commodities for maximum profits, will attract farmers for using such services. Health Care is an issue in rural areas - by providing them doctor over the phone at reasonable cost will help farmers to avoid travelling to near cities for sickness which can be taken care at doctor advise over the phone and will also get expert advice on which nearby hospital for curing the disease hence helping the villagers to avoid travelling to different hospitals. Health Insurance can also play pivotal role in providing health benefits in rural areas. Consumers are also looking for diverse vernacular content at affordable prices -- this would enable proliferation of 3G services across the country especially in rural and semi urban areas.
These services can be offered as an applications or IVR methods. IVR will be more successful if offered in local language as compared to apps or SMS based services as the literacy level is less in rural and semi-urban areas.
Telecom Operator should concentrate on providing value added services as per the local requirements in local language to tap the huge market pie. Its matter of time that operator will be making theirs road maps based on the rural market.
