The August issue of Voice and Data carries a feature “Up in Arms” on the VAS market. The focus of this feature is revenue share between the VAS players and service providers and how this impacts future innovations in the industry. Vijay was quoted extensively in this story on the revune share of Value Added Services in the Telecom Market and the impact of new entrants in this segment. He is also quoted on the potential and opportunities in this segment - “The true potential of this business will come to the force once operators’ new subscriber acquiring spree nears a plateau, and the focus is on the subscriber who is ready to do more with his device than just calling.” follow the link to read the article.
A lot of people often wonder why we are called One97 and how did we pick this niche to operate in? What makes Vijay take the decisions does? Why has he taken One97 on this journey …. etc etc …. Attempting to find answers to these questions I spent a lot of time searching through the archives. It gave me a feeler of what has been said and written about One97 and the man behind it. It was an interesting journery and I thought about sharing the same with others. Its remarkable how different people with different styles of writing have managed to capture the spirit of the organisation and Vijay’s thoughts about the same. The first of the articles posted here is about a year old from a section in Financial Express called ” Showcasing Entrepreneurship” and the headline reads “Cashing in on Cellphone Content” will give you an insight on how and why Vijay started the company and tracks ome of the earlier stages of evolution of the company ( and Vijay too!!). Link to the article http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Cashing-in-on-cellphone-content/234964/
Vijay was recently profiled by Economic Times for their weekly section ” My First Million”. This column features young entrepreneurs and their achievments. Check out the article on Economic Times Website
One97 has developed and deployed the VAS platform for the Airtel IFFCO Krishna Sanchar project to connect farmers.
Airtel-IFFCO Kisan Sanchar and One97 provides a platform where people of a region having relevant information can share it with other members of group. E.g. if a person comes to know about scheduled power cut, information on crop diseases and treatment, weather information, new market price of a certain crop or any other relevant information etc. He/she can share with predefined group by simply dialing a short code i.e. 534359 and recording the information. Information is sent out to all registered group members via outdialers. Through this unique VAS platform each user will get five free voice messages on mandi prices, farming techniques, weather forecasts, dairy farming, animal husbandry, among others on a daily basis. Incase a farmer missed out the outdialer call he can call back to one of the dedicated shortcode i.e 53435 to listed the recordings of the day.
In addition, the farmer can to call a dedicated helpline shortcode i.e 534351, manned by experts from various fields, to get answers to their specific queries.
Currently this service has over 1 Lakh+ subscribers. The service has been widely accepted and used because:
1. If offers free daily voice updates in local languages on mandi prices, farming techniques, weather forecasts and fertilizer availability to the farmers.
2.In addition, the farmer can call a dedicated helpline, manned by experts from various fields, to get answers to their specific queries.
3.It is a voice base service and any one can use it.
4.User can share information in 8 regional languages. The messages are then forwarded to the user group in the same language.
5.Its real time.
In the first phase of roll out this service was implemented in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The second phase services are being made live in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, and Andhra Pradesh HP.
One97 has won the “Best innovative Service Provider of the year award” at the eIndia 2008 awards.
eIndia awards are conferred by the Centre for Science Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) to distinguish professionals and institutions working on e-Agriculture, e-Governance, Digital Learning, e-Health, Indian Telecentre Forum, m-Serve and Municipal IT and the subsequent application of ICTs in these areas.
The eINDIA Awards which are held annually alongside the eINDIA conference proceedings were declared on July 31 this year. The award is open for all national and international Government organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), and enterprises who have transformed social development opportunities into a sustainable social enterprise through innovative use of ICTs.
