Metamorphosis of the phone booth

Pitroda firm, MTNL to transform PCOs into info kiosks

Don't have a cell phone? Don't even own a land line? Not to worry. Now, you can rely on the ubiquitous local phone booths (PCOs) to buy tickets, pre-paid shopping cards, money order/transfer, person-to-person transactions and even make bill payments, thanks to Sam Pitroda.

C-Sam Inc, US, a company founded by Pitroda, along with the state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) has launched MerchantWallet and OneWallet, secure payment and transaction platforms for fixed line and mobile phone users, respectively.

The platforms have been designed to provide all these services. To start with, MTNL will offer recharging of its Trump card top-up. At the second state, several value-added services will be available across Mumbai and Delhi.

The platform is already being integrated with other service providers including utility companies like gas and electric companies for bill payments, cinemas, railways and airlines for ticketing etc.

In Mumbai alone, MTNL has about 1.37 lakh local PCOs and 32,331 STD PCOs.

Several banks have been roped in to facilitate smooth transactions over the phones. "We are working with four major banks in India to offer this platform and services. We are also talking to Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) to offer this services," said Pitroda, chairman of C-Sam Inc.

"It is a great opportunity to convert existing STD PCO s into transaction centres across the country. This will allow the STD/PCO operators to generate additional revenue which declined with lowering of tariffs on ILD and NLD calls," Pitroda added.

With over 100 patents to his credit, Pitroda pointed out that the transaction platform will benefit the world from the electronic money as it offers flexibility and convenience to customers. It will also usher in transparency in all payment transactions.

The transaction platform will allow mobile phone users to securely load an empty wallet and create a personalised account at a web-based transaction portal. MTNL OneWallet is a software which stores soft versions of cards - credit, debit, identity, travel, medical and phone cards.

A user can carry out payment transactions remotely using any of the cards present in the wallet. In the case of MerchantWallet, the transactions can be done at retail locations such as STD/PCO booths as well as at MTNL's customer centres.

A user can make cashless payment by using stored value accounts or make cash payments to stores with MerchantWallet.

C-Sam has already launched these services in Japan and UAE. Over the next six months, it will be launched in China, East Africa and Asia Pacific region.