Telecom Lead Asia: Vodafone has tied up with mobile VAS company Handygo Technologies to launch IVR based service called Behtar Zindagi for rural India.
Vodafone India has more than 70 million mobile subscribers in rural India and mobile VAS is a major focus area.
In Q3 2012-13, Vodafone India posted £44 million revenue from messaging services alone against voice revenue of £785 million. Its data revenue was £94 million.
Behtar Zindagi, according to Vodafone India, is designed to cater to the information needs of rural people. It will help subscribers get information based on their location on agriculture, weather updates, rural finance, mandi rates, live stocks, fisheries education, health, and more. Users can ask a question to the experts on various related issues and they will get answers within 24- 48 hours.
Vodafone’s IVR service is handset independent and available 24×7. The service is accessible throughout India and is available in 16 regional languages.
The content has been segregated at state and district level that helps users to get detailed and micro level information. All the content has been sourced from government institutions, universities, private organizations and NGOs ensuring that it is authenticated.
To use this service customers can dial 556780 (toll free) and will get a free trial for 10 minutes. Subscribers can avail of the subscription pack either at per minute usage of Re 1/min or subscriber for monthly usage of Rs 30/month for 60 minutes. For SMS activation type ACT ZIN and send an SMS to 111 or 444 and for deactivation SMS DCT ZIN to 111 or 444.
