Indian service providers, in their next phase of expansion, have recognized the rural market as their favorite destination for investments. In the next two years, more than 50% of their total investments would be in rural and urban areas, though there are concerns about declining ARPUs.

Demands of consumers in the rural belt are different from those in urban areas. Customers want basic solutions to solve their issues. Confident of getting better solutions from telecom companies, consumers are raising their demands.

Indian farmers in rural areas have to deal with crop collapse or animal illness frequently due to lack of any aid due to lack of communications facilities. The Internet maybe the solution to the problems, but is out of reach for the majority.

BT approached OneWorld, a charitable organization working to promote human rights and sustainable development across the globe, to discover ideas for a telephone-based information service, which enables farmers to record a question and soon after, retrieve a recorded reply. BT collaborated with Cisco to co-sponsor the scheme. LifeLines India was launched in November 2006. The solution encompasses a Cisco Unified Messaging platform incorporating the interactive voice response functionality, integrated with a customer relationship management application, and information database provided by BT.

This facility extends to 591 villages and more than 200 calls are received each day. A database of over 30,000 'frequently asked questions' has been created. Not only is this crucial to help deliver a timely overhaul to farmers, it is the key to enabling service scalability and sustainability. The quality of crops has already improved and farmers have seen an increase in profits by 25-150%. “BT and Cisco have supported the whole program and helped turn our vision into a reality. In addition to providing funding and technology, the companies demonstrated a high degree of business proficiency, providing managerial leadership, guidance and insight to ensure the effective launch and promotion of the service,” says Naimur Rahman, director, OneWorld South Asia.

Challenges Too Many
India is the world's second most densely inhabited country and only the seventh largest country by geographic area. Around 65% of India's working people are farmers. Their working environment can be exceptionally ruthless and the daily challenges noteworthy. Areas like Bundelkhand in Central India suffer from lack of rainfall and low soil fertility. Irrigation facilities are generally scarce and diseases and pests are a steady problem.

Rahman says: “The rural farming community in India suffers from poor levels of literacy. Many people cannot read, and language can also be a barrier to learning as information is often only available in English. Therefore, voice is the most powerful medium to leverage information service delivery. We wanted to help the rural farming community by linking voice-to-Web technology, giving ordinary people the chance to get answers by phone to the questions that are key to improving their lives.”

Janet Blake, head, Global Corporate Social Responsibility, BT, says: “BT and Cisco have a very complementary skill set and LifeLines India offered us a great opportunity to combine our expertise to make a real difference in people's lives in the developing world.”

Solution that Works
OneWorld had a proposal to add a telephone dimension to its established Open Knowledge Network, an idea that uses knowledge workers to share learning in the local language. But, it needed help to turn its vision into a fully equipped and sustainable service. LifeLines India was launched through the partnership in November 2006. Callers are greeted with the service name “Soochna Se Samadahan” (Information is Solution) and told to record their inquiry on a computerized voicemail system.

Great Results
This collaboration between BT, Cisco, and OneWorld is in support of the UN Millennium Development Goal on digital inclusion. Till now, the only source of agricultural and veterinary information available to farmers in rural India was through community meetings and agriculture extension workers. Now, LifeLines India answers that need through a telephone call, providing small scale Indian farmers resources for bridging the information gap.

In a span of eight months, services have been extended to 591 villages in three states, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh, covering around three million people. Call number has risen from 1,100 per month and more than 200 calls daily. Even with a rapid growth in call volume, customer service remains very good. Such a tremendous expansion is essential if the service is to attain its objective of becoming truly profitable.

For farmers, this service is a precious tool for information exchange. A sample study of farmers across three villages, Masobra, Jhansi and Nalagarh, shows a steady increase in product quality and productivity, leading to an increase in profit.

The farmer is given a reference number (query-ID) by the system and told when to call back for an answer. The query is processed by a OneWorld sponsored knowledge worker in the central office who first searches the voice database of the frequently asked questions. If a solution is on the database, the knowledge worker attaches the voice response for the farmer to access as soon as the following day.

If the issue is new, before recording the reply, the knowledge worker seeks advice from a specialist from the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP), a OneWorld partner organization. The service is also very cost efficient. The two calls-one to record the query and the other to get back the answer-cost the farmer just Rs 5.

Geeta Malhotra, head, Grassroots Communications, OneWorld South Asia says: “This small charge serves a dual purpose. Firstly, the farmers value and admire the information they have to pay for. Secondly, it enables us to create a sustainable business model.”

A Bright Future
Rahman says: “The social return of such an improvement is enormous. A better yield can mean increased income, which will mean a better quality of life for families, enabling children to be better educated and hence, have a brighter future. This is good for the individual and good for India.”

A routing group, chaired by BT and demonstration from Cisco and OneWorld, meets on a quarterly basis to review progress and direct the project. Plans are already in place to expand the service to cover 1,000 villages and a population of 5 mn people by March 2008, and 3,000 villages and a population of 15 mn people by March 2010. The services offered will be modified from time to time. Services and equipment are provided subject to British Telecommunications PLC's respective standard conditions of contract.

LifeLines India has already started making a real difference to the lives of India's rural farming community. Thousands of farmers and their families have already benefited from the guidance given, and this is set to become millions as the service expands. Customer satisfaction is growing consistently and in March 2007, almost 70% of the farmers were fully satisfied with the service provided.

Janet Blake adds: “LifeLines India is BT's first international digital inclusion program and we are delighted with the results. The social and economic benefits for India's rural farming community are apparent and we have helped create a sustainable business model that can be applied to other similar projects both in India and beyond.”

The concept of 'LifeLines for Education' is already being analyzed. The idea is to offer a helpline for both teachers and students, initially covering 650 villages, in isolated parts of West Bengal. The service would allow callers to look for academic support.

Arpita Prem