The Hindu Business Line : RTF introduces affordable phones for rural poor

IN an interesting move to make telephone affordable to the rural poor, the Rural Telecom Foundation (RTF), has managed to provide a `partyline' facility with Gramphone for 15 members through a common phone line for women self-help groups in Andhra Pradesh.

Consequently, two self-help groups of women agricultural labourers in Cherla Patelguda village of Ibrahimpatnam mandal in Ranga Reddy district in Andhra Pradesh now have a telephone facility for as low as Rs 30 a month. However, this is with a rider. They can only receive calls but cannot call out.Addressing a press conference here, Mr Vittal Rajan, President and Mr Madan Mohan Rao, Secretary of RTF, a non-profit organisation promoted by NRIs, said that they plan to impress upon the Union Communications Minister, Mr Arun Shourie, about the advantages of this facility, which can be installed in days.

While providing them with a telephone facility, it empowers villagers as was demonstrated in Khalleda village in Warangal district earlier. From the BSNL point of view small changes in their exchange will enable them to provide this facility and also expand the tele-density. The project developed by NRIs is based on the partyline concept where more than one user uses a common phone connection, they said.

The State's ASP Dalit Bahujan Co-operatives Federation will quickly follow up on this initial success by giving Gramphones to another 100 self-help groups, thereby servicing over 1,500 member households within the district. Unlike cheaper rural telephone connection, where they have to shell out a minimum of Rs 300 if they have to both receive and call, this service provides them the facility to be connected with their people. The response is such that the entire group of SHGs now want this facility, according to Mr J. Neeliah, Chief Executive Officer of the Dalit Co-operative Federation.

Rural connections will become profitable to BSNL if there were an average of 20 incoming calls per day. While subscribers like Mrs Indira, and Mrs Suguna, both uneducated members of women self-help groups, who never had the advantage of being in touch with the outside world through a telephone connection, get such a facility, this has generated more interest among other SHGs.

Mrs Indira and Mrs Suguna say that they were now able to be in touch with their children who are studying in residential schools and also with their relatives in other places apart from using for self-help groups.

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