Phones at cheap rentals for rural poor

Two self-help groups (SHGs) of women agricultural labour in Cherla Patelguda village of Ibrahimpatnam mandal, Ranga Reddy district, are a happy lot now.

For, they have telephones in their homes, that too for a record low monthly rental of only Rs 30 sans upfront installation costs.

Incredible as it may sound, this 'poorman's package' was made possible by the city-based Rural Telecom Foundation (RTF). Gramphone, as the foundation calls it, is a modified party line on the wire line service of BSNL.

Though a non-subsidised loan product, this telephone service was readily accepted by the members of self-help groups. The monthly rental of Rs 30 enables a householder to purchase the telephone instrument, drop wire and other equipment over a period of few years.

Once the loan is fully paid, the cost of the service would drop even further to less than Rs 15 a month. "The two self-help groups had been chosen because of the prompt repayment by each member of an earlier loan of Rs 5,000 in just ten months. With the initial success of the Gramphones, ASP Dalit-Bahujan Cooperatives Federation is willing to give 100 such telephones to another 100 self-help groups ...in the district," said D Prasada Rao, the chairman of RTF's advisory committee.

Designed and developed by Uday Kumar, a Telugu NRI, Gramphone is immune to lightening as there are no micro electronic devices as in the case of EPABX. In Cherla Patelguda, the installation of 27 phones was completed in three days.