Hi Members, Being the founder of Quick Call, I am compelled to share this with you all after seeing yesterdays newspaper report.
Quite often, I have been asked this question: Why have you started this free information helpline, Quick Call, in this age of 3G and smartphones ? Even when I launched this helpline on Access India, a lot of people had similar apprehensions. Being in cities, surrounded by techies at work and home we often mistake the rest of India to be like us. The rationale behind Quick Call has been covered in this study published in Times of India. You may find it difficult to believe, we get calls from places in India where a recharge coupon often takes 10 days to deliver after advance payment. Though internet has reached only 15% of India but mobile phone penetration is around 110%. This combination of 15% internet and 110% mobiles is the genesis of Quick Call. To empower every citizen of India with internet or information on call is the sole objective of Quick Call aka 1800-2000-215. For the information of members, I have shared below the major points from the report published. Complete report is available at: *http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/85-of-Indians-are-offline-Study/articleshow/44043170.cms <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/85-of-Indians-are-offline-Study/articleshow/44043170.cms>* Thanks Neeraj Quick Call NEW DELHI: India ranks 20 in a list of 25 countries on the "Internet Barriers Index <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Internet-Barriers-Index>" identified by a study from McKinsey & Company and internet.org, a Facebook-promoted project to bring more people online. A low rank on the index indicates high barriers. The countries were ranked on the index on the basis of their scores on four kinds of barriers: incentives, low incomes and affordability, user capability, and infrastructure. The study found that the key demographic features of the offline population in India - pegged at 85% - were illiteracy, low income, and a rural location. "India's non-Internet user population is overwhelmingly rural (73%), and a high proportion is illiterate (43%) and female (54%)," the report said. The report finds that while India performs well on the affordability front, it has room for improvement. "The average absolute price for data downloads and smartphones (for India) are among the lowest of the countries researched in this report. However, a closer look at India's consumer economic profile uncovers tremendous challenges due to low incomes," said the report that has chiefly gathered its India data, inter alia, from World Bank reports and those from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International's 2013 report Internet in India. Literacy was identified as another major barrier. "Given that literacy is a prerequisite for being able to participate fully in society—including the action of getting online—a low literacy rate is a major impediment to increasing Internet penetration," said the report that pegs the world's offline population at 4.4 billion. Around 3.4 billion or 75% of these, it says, live in just 20 countries, while 920 million of those 3.4 billion are illiterate. Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/accessindia@accessindia.org.in/ To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
