• Not profiling the Customer

• Not properly identifying the inofromation needs of customers

• Wrong customer acquisition - customer not having interest in the service

• Extending services where network is not strong

• Content not having relevance to the local conditions

• Not being fully aware of  the Telecom Regulation Policies

Method of Sourcing Content
 

• Printed literature and website information that are authentic and are available in public domain
• For information not available in the public domain, special tie-up with appropriate organizations to enable content enrichment and broadening of the knowledge base
• Feedback and success stories from the customers

Standards to be followed while disseminating information to farmers:

• Protocol of information dissemination is required to be developed for each category of information.
• Requirement in respect of the following should be well defined in these protocols of information dissemination

1. Source
2. Adequacy
3. Accuracy
4. Relevance (location specific)
5. Clarity
6. Sensitivity to the Socio-cultural aspects

Who is best placed for quality assurance

Quality assurance can be by

1. In-house content personnel for developing content plan and protocol
2. Experts who will be Vetting the content for messages
3. In-house content personnel for carrying out regular internal audit
4. Obtaining Feedback from farmers through participatory appraisal to improve the services
5. Periodic audits  conducted by external agencies

Welcome every one on the Eighth day for the Fourth Question.

In most developing countries, the bottom of the pyramid offers an excellent opportunity to the mobile network operators (MNO) for increasing the rural penetration and achieving a large customer base.  However, this target segment is price sensitive making it necessary to develop affordable products/schemes.  In India,  falling mobile tariff over the last decade was a major enabler for increased rural penetration providing increased business volume to the MNO and an enabling environment to the Agri Partner for extending the advisory services to  the  rural base.

The financial sustainability of the service can be viewed under various dimesions.

1. In the short term, the mobile operator may have to

• pass on part of the benefit of acquiring a new customer as an investment for their future annuity that can accrue from customer loyalty,
• share a part of the future revenue based on the ARPU,
• incentivise the service through the talktime sales to the users.

This arrangement provides the initial impetus for extending a high quality advisory service to the users.

2. In the medium  term,  the possibility of monetising the services can  be explored.  There are existing models which are subscription based.  A farmer who is getting value for money would be willing to pay for the services.        

3. In the  long run, continuous  engagement with the customers provides an opportunity to extend other value added services related to financial inclusion, education, livelihood, health, etc.,  thus adding mere verticals for earning revenue.  In each of these, the subscribers can be provided services through mobile phones on subscription basis or usage basis.

4. m-Governance services (which are being activily promoted by Governments) and m-commerce activities  have further potential of revenue generation.

Hi All,

Here is my view on the barriers to reaching scale with mobile information services:

If right products in which the targeted beneficiaries find value are created, scaling should happen by itself.  The question is how to create the right products for those who are in the very Bottom of the Pyramid.

Two major aspects which may be barriers in the scaling up mobile information services are :

Accessibility
Affordability

(Accessibility is presumed to include ' access to MNO for smooth and easy enrolment process and Point of Presence for post-sales service either for communication or for availing information services')

However, once the mobile network is well established and the affordability improves they can be seen as opportunities for large-scale mobile information services than barriers in  scaling up.  

Other barriers to reaching scale with mobile information services are:

1. Infrastructure strength and Reliability of message delivery : An MNO not having a strong presence in a region has less effective infrastructure and hence less reliability in delivery of messages to the customers.

In many developed countries, reach and quality of network coverage poses an impediment for scaling up. The MNO can support by ensuring adequate coverage, quality of coverage in terms of signal strength and reliability which will be a hygiene factor for providing information services.

2. Cost of delivery mechanism : The type of delivery mechanism has a bearing on its cost. OBD (Out Bound Dialler) disseminated over a voice message platform are costlier than SMS (text) messages.

Technology platform should be robust to handle high volume of OBDs within stipulated time. The MNO can facilitate smooth integration for monitoring data related to delivery and technology platform.

3. Low Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of Customers : ARPU of customers is a measure of profitability for the mobile network operator. Low ARPU of customers , especially at the bottom of the economic pyramid having high price sensitivity becomes a barrier in scaling up or even the sustainability of the Business Model.

4. Language & Literacy: In a country with a lot of regional diversity in respect of language and literacy, aggregating precise and pertinent region-wise Content in the scaling-up process is a challenge.

5. Technology: Most economical feature phones are being used by the BoP subscibers with content dissemination through SMS and Voice messages. For them smart mobile handsets and higher generation data services are out of reach.

6. Govt. Policies : Govt. policies and regulations should enable scaling up and should not become an impediment.

- Reasons for the negative growth of Agricultural Productivity in India is said to be dearth of physical infrastructure, deficiency in the availability of agricultural inputs and lack of, or uneven access to information.  Small & marginal farmers are often unable to gain access to reliable information that could help them increase their farm yield and get better price for their crops.

- Indian agriculture is characterized by a predominance of small and marginal landholdings. More than 70 percent of India’s farmers own less than 2 ha of land.  Their holding will be only 33 percent of the total farm land and they produce around 40 percent of India’s food grains.

Rural Smallholders & their problems

1. In earning their livelihood, small farmers face innumerable hurdles such as:
2. small acreages meaning  low yields & low profit margins,
3. having less access to irrigation,
4. being susceptible to problems like crop diseases,
5. being scattered Geographically, finding difficulty in pooling resources and  accessing  the latest information on growing techniques and the market.,
6. lacking access to credit to buy inputs; having to borrow  at exorbitant interest rates (50% to 60%) and being forced to buy inputs at high costs & of  poor quality from the money lenders’  shops.
7. exposed to high risk; not being aware of agricultural insurance
8. facing shortage & high cost of labor
9. lack of facilities to store their crops,
10. disorganised market; no efficient procurement system for their crops; compelled to sell their crops to brokers

Measures for solving the problems :

- Should enable them to form groups such as self-help groups, farmers clubs,
As a cooperative, farmers can access credit, knowledge of farming techniques, procure inputs as well market their goods directly to customers or commodity exchanges. They should be provided with an effective supply chain management.

- Looking at the needs of the rural smallholders for fulfillment and also looking at the quantum of requirement,  the MNO and the Agri partner are motivated to take up  a number of m-services via mobile networks such as:

1. Financial Services such as mobile payment & banking, financial literacy.
2. Health services including health education clinical care, health worker training etc. 
3. Mobile-based learning and education
4. Market information services  including farmer information services & help-lines, market pricing information & transportation.

Business case for serving rural smallholders :

- The bottom of the pyramid in the developing world is large with needs which may not be fully supported by affordability at present. With upward mobilty and suitable low cost products, a business case exists. The Governments are keen  in promoting Inclusive development which also translates into newer opportunities. As in the case of IKSL, a model which can be a win-win for MNO and the stake holders can be exploited by leveraging synergies in all developing countries.

- Initiatives for Good Governance suffer from the limitation of reachability to intended beneficairies. Mobile enabling such governance applications can facilitate governments reach the beneficiaries better. Reduction in transaction costs can evolve an acceptable case for revenue generation for the service providers

 1.       [Day 1] In a partnership between a mobile network operator and agricultural partners, what attributes does each partner bring, how are they complimentary and what roles should they play in delivering a service to farmers? 

In the context of IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL), Bharti Airtel is the network operator and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) is the agricultural partner. In this model successfully implemented in India, each of the partners has contributed with their respective domain strengths. 
- The network partner has a cricial role in ensuring adequate network coverage, developing suitable  products which are within the reach and affordability of the target audience, addressing coverage issues, etc. 
- The agriculture partner brings in rich experience of rural needs and quality content. 
-  Both Bharti Airtel and IFFCO have joined together in a joint venture which establishes their commitment. In addition to finacial resources, each has contributed experienced human resources with expertise in all the related areas of service. Leveraging the streangths of the promoters,

IKSL has developed as a Content Provider as well as Integrator of various stake holders. 
- The network provider is important in sharing the MIS on delivery of the advisory services to the farmers and receipt. 
-  A VAS Technology Partner is important in managing the content and delivery through the network operator. In the case of IKSL, Bharti Airtel has contributed this support thru a third party vendor with specialisation in managing the delivery. 
- In addition to own content compiled and collated, IKSL also has developed partnerships with other Agencies and Institutions which generate actual content - like Agricultural Universities and Research Institutes, International agencies like CABI, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Agmarknet for market information, etc. IKSL has developed platforms to collate and make reference material accessible to its Content Team. 
- IKSL has also developed Partnerships with other stake holders in rural India for promoting more focused and location specific advisory services. With these organisations / agencies, IKSL has promoted Focused Communities of farmers with common subjects of interest under the aegis of a collaborating partner. Such partnerships include - State / Central Govt Ministries, State Level Federations, NGOs, etc. These partners facilitate in providing more intensive and focused advisory of relevance to the subscribers 
- IKSL has also developed ICT Platform with support from GSMA Foundation to manage all the activities and set up quality assurance processes.