infoTECH Feature

January 07, 2009

Intel Launches ePCO Initiative in Jaipur

By Anil Sharma
Intel, in collaboration with Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL (News - Alert)) and ItzCash, has launched the ePCO initiative in Jaipur, the capital city of India’s northwestern state of Rajasthan.
 
ePCO is a joint effort between Intel (News - Alert), BSNL and ItzCash where the ePCOs aim to drive self-employment, bridge the digital divide and increase IT adoption in semi-urban and rural areas.
 
“The ePCO is an excellent step in making technology more affordable and accessible to a much larger number of people in India. This initiative is in line with Intel’s objectives in bringing together industry support in accelerating broadband connectivity in the country that can act as an economic growth driver,” said Sandeep Aurora, director of sales and marketing, Intel South Asia.
 
Aurora, while addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, said, “Intel is thankful to all the partners who are coming together to drive this wonderful initiative.”
 
As a major player in silicon innovation, Intel develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live.
 
Intel is the motivator and the facilitator of this initiative by helping the partners to structure the ePCO initiative and provide support to scale the program across the country. 
On the other hand, BSNL will support the initiative through its large network of PCOs and also by enabling Broadband connectivity in the EPCOs. 
 
According to G.K Agarwal, CGM - BSNL, Rajasthan Circle, “This is a great initiative. We are extending broadband connection to the existing PCOs to provide them with an alternative revenue option. This initiative will allow the PCO to offer a host of service to its neighboring locality such as railway ticketing, bus ticketing, flight ticketing etc. Apart from that, facilities like Internet browsing, checking emails, chatting etc will also enable the PCO operator to earn more revenue in addition to the normal PCO voice calls”.
 
“BSNL has largest customer base and at present we are serving 57000 customers in Rajasthan. Speed of BSNL broadband is upto 8 Mbps. It is proposed to cover each & every telephonic exchange with Broadband connectivity during this financial year; with this the total port capacity will be 2,48,000,” he added.
 
Bharat Sanchar Nigam is world's 7th largest telecommunications company providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India including Wireline, CDMA mobile, GSM Mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service to MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP services, IN Services among others.
 
ItzCash is a multipurpose prepaid card and will be the backbone of all Internet related services offered by the ePCOs. The franchisee will also get a certain percentage on each transaction completed through the ItzCash cards.
 
“ItzCash has a complete business model to support ePCOs. ItzCash provides a wide range of services which fulfill the end customers' requirement, by its franchisees, enabling the franchisees and PCO owner to earn revenue in the process,” said Sudhakar K., vice president of sales and distribution, ItzCash.
 
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is Fixed Service Strategies for Mobile Network Operators, brought to you by Comverse (News - Alert).

Anil Sharma is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Anil's articles, please visit his columnist page.

Edited by Michelle Robart
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