National forum on mobile application for inclusive growth and sustainable development begins

Forum deliberates leveraging the Potential of mobile/wireless technologies
M-banking in the Country soon says: A Raja

There is a need to boost development of mobile applications (m-Applications) in India to support various development activities and to fulfil the needs of common man. The Ministry of Communications & IT is working actively towards this end and m-banking will soon be a reality in the country. This will connect unconnected with formal banking institutions and achieve financial inclusion. This was stated by the Union Minister of Communications & Information Technology, Thiru A. Raja at a two-day “National Forum on mobile applications for inclusive growth and sustainable development” which got underway here today.

Referring to limited mobile applications, the Minister said that there is a wide range of government services which can be delivered via mobile phone. These can be services relating to health, education, employment, police, tax payments, judicial and legal services etc.

Various e-Governance services being provided using customer service centres (CSCs) at the doorstep of the villagers have limited access. m-Applications to provide citizen centric services to each individual in personalised manner can be explored. m-Application can effectively contribute in the field of health, education and agriculture.

The unique features of mobile applications to provide access to any service, anytime, anywhere are capable to offer value to end-users’ such as mobility, flexibility, and users’ location etc. and makes m–Applications the new evolving wave.

Telecommunication has emerged as one of the prime support services for modernization of various sectors and is contributing towards rapid growth of Indian economy. Referring to surveys and analysts the Minister said that access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) allows the benefit of information availability, provides framework for better education for masses, improves social networking and offers access to enhanced business opportunities which contributes towards higher economic growth.

Telecommunication has evolved beyond providing just basic voice and text with the onset of internet and broadband. After launch of 3G and broadband wireless access (BWA) services by various service providers, high speed data transaction enabling access to vital information and innovative services is expected. Technological innovation have enhanced mobile computing capacity and are now able to support various platforms increasing the possibility of launching innovative m-applications.

In order to stimulate and accelerate developments of mobile applications, TRAI is organizing a two day National Forum to deliberate on the next generation reforms for leveraging the potential of mobile/wireless technologies and new media for information enabled inclusive growth and sustainable development.

The National Forum aims to:

(a) discuss various options and business model to accelerate the development and use of mobile applications across key social and economic sectors.

(b) share experiences on formulating innovative public private partnership models for accelerating economic and social development enabled by advanced convergence opportunities.

(c) discuss International scenario and case studies to help India leapfrog for effectively using mobile governance.

India’s telecommunication revolution has led to total tele-density crossing 51 percent. With over 560 million mobile subscribers and growing at approximately 12-15 million per month, mobile networks have now become country’s largest distribution platform, promising to deliver information and public services to the masses through innovative applications. The mobile platforms world over are being used to provide financial and banking services, agriculture information, health services, telemedicine and e-education in rural and remote areas. The initiatives to provide various services using mobile applications have already started in India. M-applications potential can be leveraged to boost social and economic activities, governance, and enhance government citizen interaction. For this transformation to be inclusive and beneficial for the under-privileged and rural populations, innovative and new models of public private partnership need to be formulated and deployed.

IT secretaries from different states, senior officers from different Ministries are participating. Many experts in the field of m-Applications and eminent World Bank experts will be delivering lectures and presenting case studies in the Forum. Many application developers, companies who have successfully developed such applications will be organizing ‘demos’ during the Forum.


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