“Being a global leader in mobility, Vodafone has worked with governments in many parts of the world. We have a very good understanding of the eGovernance and mGovernance space and we are in a position to partner with the government for taking the vision of Digital India forward,” says Shekhar Agrawal, Senior Vice President, Vodafone India. In conversation with Express Computer
What are your views on financial inclusion schemes that have been rolled out?
To ensure good governance, it is critical to have economic growth that is inclusive in nature. We are very positive about the financial inclusion agenda of the new government. We have been having conversations with government departments about the need of a trustworthy and transparent funds and subsidy disbursement process. Our mobile payment service M-Pesa can be an integral part of public distribution and direct business transfer (DBT) mechanism. Vodafone M-Pesa is the world’s most successful money transfer service. It enables millions of people who have access to a mobile phone, but have only limited access to a bank account, to send and receive money, top-up airtime and make bill payments.
In India, Vodafone M-Pesa with over 85,000 agents and over 2.5 million registered customers, is the largest banking business correspondent. Our distribution network, built in the last 20 months, since launch in April 2013, is equivalent to 80% of the total bank branches in the country. We are working with Governments of Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand and other states for scholarship, NREGA wage and NRHM subsidy disbursements. So in our own small way we are contributing to the financial inclusion agenda of government through our unique M-Pesa platform.
Government of India is using mobile platforms for delivering eGovernance services to the people in the country. What kind of work can Vodafone do in the area of mGovernance?
The earlier system of governance was based on G2C (Government to Citizen) model, but now the government is working towards the C2G (Citizen to Government) model, which is a step in the right direction. eGovernance is transitioning into mGovernance, which is based on leveraging the omnipresence of mobile devices. As with businesses, the interactions between government and citizens are becoming a real-time two-way street.
As a global leader in mobility Vodafone has worked with governments in many parts of the world. We have a very good understanding of the eGovernance and mGovernance space and we are in a position to partner with the government for taking the vision of Digital India forward. We are looking forward to playing a larger role in supporting the state and central governments, through smart solutions and smart governance.
We can help leverage the power of the mobility platforms. Be it Internet of Things, mobile based payments, location based services or managed mobility–Vodafone can support it.
Globally we have multiple use cases where we have supported government projects in terms of reducing costs and improving efficiencies. Back home in India, mGovernance based citizen impacting solutions are not new to Vodafone and we have been active in education, health and agriculture space. For over a year, we have a dedicated account management and service team in place to cater to the ICT needs of the central and state governments.
What kind of opportunities does Vodafone see in the Digital India programme?
Under the umbrella of Digital India programme, big strides are being made by the government for creating a more technologically advanced society. We see in the Digital India as an opportunity for making a difference to the lives of millions of people. Vodafone has worked with government entities in overseas markets to deliver connectivity and solutions for several such initiatives. These global solutions address issues as diverse as urban traffic management through network-enabled analytics, use of smart devices to help increase police force productivity and smart metering for utility companies. The mobility solutions developed by Vodafone can significantly expand the government’s capacity to deliver positive outcomes to the citizens and businesses. We endeavour to be a steadfast partner in the government’s efforts.
The government of India is planning to create several Smart Cities in the country. Tell us about the mobile solutions that Vodafone can provide for Smart Cities?
Simply put a Smart City is the one that puts the citizen at the heart of everything, be it services, infrastructure or the socio-economic fabric, irrespective of whether it is a greenfield, brownfield or whitefield city, A Smart City is a future ready city, which uses ICT to ensure better health, education and overall wellbeing of its inhabitants. Technology can help reduce cost, resource consumption and improve G2C and C2G communication. The key components for such cities are transport, energy, health care, education, water and waste management.
A Smart City must leverage IT and Telecommunication infrastructure. We have use cases in energy management, traffic management, citizen safety, waste management and interactive learning. We feel Smart Cities will essentially be the smart building blocks enabled through smart solutions. Vodafone is a market leader in M2M technology, it can support Smart City initiatives through connectivity, enterprise mobility, unified communications, cloud-based services and hosting services. VBS is actively engaged to bring our global best practices around these products and services to India.
Give us an overview of the work that Vodafone is doing for various government departments in the country?
We have a team of account managers dedicated to serve the needs of our government customers. They are constantly engaged with health, education, urban development, rural development and home ministries, to name a few, for understanding their challenges and accordingly tailor solutions for their needs. We are also in the process of building a partner ecosystem to address issues related to mHealth, mEducation, mAgriculture and mCitizen.
What are Vodafone’s plans for Indian market? What kind of growth do you expect in the mobility and the enterprise market?
Today Vodafone is the market leader in enterprise mobility. We would like to continue this dominance. We also plan to grow our fixed-line business which has seen a traction in the recent years. Our business roadmap is also driven by innovative offerings that we are planning – we will continue to lead the market innovation in M2M, in which we are recognised as the number one communication service provider in the world.
The upcoming launch of cloud marketplace will enable us to become a total telecommunications provider. As far as the strengthening of our presence in government space is concerned, we are keenly looking at Digital India, Smart Cities and the various mGovernance opportunities that are emerging. We wish to be seen as a capable total solutions partner for the government vertical.