What mobile phone should you buy for your elderly grandmother for example, who isn’t interested in flashing lights, screens and complex menu systems, but she is used to an ordinary-looking phone? Or perhaps how is a multi touch interface going to be helpful to a blind consumer. An Indian company Spice recently showed a $20 Braille Phone. Currently a lot of blind persons around the world are using Nokia devices because for a few years there have been two professional – albeit expensive – screen reader software products for the S60 Symbian platform.
Addressing a press conference to announce the launch of a “people’s phone” here on Tuesday, Mr Navin Kaul, Spice Telecom, Karnataka, said the handset with a lifetime pre-paid connection was aimed at the rural market.
The people’s phone will be offered in a package of Rs 599, which includes handset and a free lifetime pre-paid connection, lasting the licence period of the cell phone operator till 2016.
Mr Kaul said the aggressive pricing has been determined on the basis of market research done by the company and it was the cheapest package offered by any cellular telephone service provider. Subscribers can make outgoing calls to any local number at Re 1 per minute.
The S-300 handset with audio interface system in Kannada language (Punjabi in Punjab) offers talk time of three hours, and a 15-day battery back-up, reducing the need for frequent recharging. It does not have a display screen but has all features, including roaming facility. The value-added services to be provided in Kannada will include market rates of vegetables, pulses, beverages, cereals, dry fruits, flower and oil seeds and entertainment providing a selection of 50,0000 Kannada songs. The VAS will be available at 60 paise per minute, Mr Kaul said.
With over 45 million people in the rural areas still without a phone connection, Spice Telecom hopes to make a deep penetration in the market with highly subsidised handset to be sold only in Karnataka and Punjab in the next two months, after which it would be available elsewhere at a higher cost, Mr Kaul said.