The Hindu Business Line : BSNL launches Rural Info Society

TO reach the untapped rural telecom market, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd has launched a forum called the Rural Information Society Initiative (RISI). The forum seeks to bring together agri-commodity corporate bodies, franchisees, application providers and information technology-related equipment providers under one umbrella.

The State-owned telecom company has issued a tender seeking bids from the stakeholders for the project whereby the partners will be given an equity share in the forum. As part of the RISI project, BSNL plans to deliver services like distance education, telemedicine and entertainment to villages. "BSNL is well-placed to adopt an information society initiative that can bring the various communication and IT services in e-commerce, e-governance, distance learning, telemedicine and entertainment to both urban and rural areas. The Department of Telecommunications has also indicated the possibility of providing subsidy support," said a BSNL official.

BSNL is proposing the setting up of one lakh kiosks covering villages with a population of 2,000 or more, resulting in a 48 per cent coverage of the total rural population by 2007. BSNL will also take the help of State and Union Governments for the coordination of e-governance programmes and tax subsidies. Services of banks and financial institutions shall also be considered for financing customer-end products, which will be deployed in the tele-info centres.

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