Reliance Communications (RCom) claimed a new high by bagging mGovernance contracts in the circles of Kerala, Mumbai and Maharashtra. The contracts are estimated to be worth Rs 900 crore.

The company is also in race to acquire similar contracts in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Karnataka.

Services on Offer:

The mGovernance ecosystem to be offered by RCom will provide a 24 x7 Helpline to address issues such as domestic abuse, Realtime Police Information, Updates on Land Records & Civil Services, Tourist Information, Consumer Forum through an integrated mobile delivery module. It will also provide real-time information on Civil Services such as Police, KSEB, KSEB, KSRTC, KSFDC, KFC, KSRTC, KWA, MSRTC. Consumer Forums, Land Record Information will also be provided over the service.

Infrastructure:

For the project, RCom will also rope in VAS service provider partners of governments in these states to connect various government departments in these circles. For instance, Dilip Wagh promoted IIST Infotech is the VAS partner in Mumbai and Maharashtra while MobeMe Wireless is the VAS partner for Kerala.

The infrastructure system to be set-up by RCom will enable information dispersion through various modes such as Voice, GPRS, Bluetooth, SMS and 3G. RCOM will create a comprehensive and integrated Service Delivery platform for easy roll out the various services in these Circles.

Market:

RCom estimates that the mGovernance projects can potentially generate over 20 crore transactions daily. RCom will deploy dedicated shortcodes, SMSC, IVR systems for these projects. RCom estimates these services to generate about Rs 900 crore.

Tariffs:

The company is planning to offer the services at different price points. A shortcode module architecture may be used to break-up the price points. For example, to get fishery price updates  a subscriber may use the shortcode and will be charged for every session. There will be subscription services such as Krishi alerts, Weather Alerts, Sea surface condition alerts etc, which will be offered on fixed monthly rental.

Future Plans to expand the market:

RCom plans to extend the reach of these projects to rural areas as well. For this the company plans to offer agriculture-based services such as information about the fertiliser; prices of various agricultural products in nearby mandis; weather report and local helplines for various requirements. A system will also be set-up to facilitate communication between the rural flocks and agricultural experts.

Some new applications will also be developed to enable group messaging to facilitate panchayats and or district level bodies to disseminate information of local importance to rural people.

For the projects in states of Tamilnadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan & Karnataka, the company is in talks with Osiyan Communications which is appointed by respective states to implement mGovernance projects.