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i4d|
June 2008
I
NTERVIEW
: R
AVI
G
HATE
, SMSONE,
WWW
.
SMSONE
.
IN
Building SMS network for empowering poor
What made you initiate the idea of launching SMSONE?
Everyone is aware that ‘Mobile’ has changedthe entire communication scenario of the World. In India, mobile telephony hasbrought the communication revolution sosuddenly that nearly 230 million of Indianpopulation are now connected!!! And rightfrom street hawkers to businessmen every one is now ‘mobile’. Indian Governmentis expecting around 70 crore of mobile us-ers by 2015. This will eventually result inhigher number of SMSs being transmittedthrough mobile networks.Personally, I think that SMS as amedium is faster and more effective thanany other medium. And if advertisementsare considered, it has a high response rate,say 9 percent as per international reports.SMS readability ratio is 95 percent. Andstrong messages send through SMS ser-vices can bind the community too. Ina bid to unite all the community usersunder a single umbrella and also to formlocation-based, integrated, interconnectedand interactive communities, SMSONE was launched.
How are you going to develop SMS asa media ?
Considering the high numbers of SMSs, we are trying to develop SMS as aMEDIA. Apart from using SMSs to trans-mit messages at one-to-one level, we arealso using bulk SMS technology to com-municate one-to-many type of messagesfor the welfare of common citizens. Banksand insurance companies are already usingbulk SMS technology to extend their reach.SMS as a media can be as powerful as Print,TV, Radio or Internet. On an average,every household has a mobile phone. For watching TV one has to be at home. Forsending e-mails one has to have Internetconnectivity and supporting logistics, but with a mobile in hand, any message orinformation can be sent out to you. It is amedia which is always on and is always withyou. Any news, message, alert, update canbe transmitted within a minute to a specificcommunity which is faster than any othermedia. A day will come when every mediahouse will mark SMS as priority media.
What is the Local SMS Community Newsletter model that you follow?
Local SMS Community Newsletter is alocation-based citizen centric information& knowledge focused update & alertservice through SMS which is free for themembers and is run by a local – socialentrepreneur.
How do you regulate the SMSONEnetwork?
Through our network, we identify ona priority basis,10
th
/12
th
failed or high-school/college drop outs, opportunity less – street wanderers, demoralised andfinancially backward youths. We give themone day training and explain our system,procedures and social agenda. We call theseboys ‘Community Leaders’. These boysare the main link to the community. Thecommunity leader’s first task is to conduct
On the occasion of Baramati Initiatives – ICT 2008, the i4d team caught up with Ravi Ghate of SMSONE, Pune. RaviGhate, National Youth Awardee by Govt of India is the Chief Coordinator of SMSONE. As a Social Entrepreneur, Ghatehas been working towards the empowerment of grassroots and marginalised people since the last 15 years. As a coordinator of SMSONE, Ghate has been working since the last two years. Hispathfinding innovation, ‘Self Employment Promotion ThroughLocal SMS Community Newsletter’ won the Manthan Award last year & Clinton Global Initiative’s YES FUND Award forBest Business Plan this year. Here, his perspectives and viewson connecting every household, empowering them throughSMS news & services and providing employment opportunitiesfor the school/college dropouts are discussed.
Ravi Ghate, Chief Coordinator,SMSONE, Pune, Indiaravighate@eth.net
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