Telecom players speak regional languages

For telecom service providers, playing the "regional card" is the key to extend their reach.

Telecommunication service providers are realising that English as medium for services is a failure in India; and the national language, Hindi, is only a tad better.

So, to extend their reach, to tap the entire population of the country, representing the second-largest market after China, localisation or playing the "regional flavour" card is the key. This assumes more significance given that there are over 25 languages and varied lifestyles in the country.

Now, what is localisation? According to Harish Joshy, LioNBridge Technologies' vice-president of Indian operations, "It is the method of customising the content for particular geographies or customers, which might at times be in multiple languages."

LioNBridge is one of the major localisation companies operating in India. The global outsourcing major "Indianises" content into 12 languages, including Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Punjabi and Bengali, among others.

The Nasdaq-listed company localises content for leading mobile manufacturers, for online advertisements and caters to the world's largest search engine Google.

The company uses it web-based language management technology, Logoport, for the initiative and has completed translating more than 110 million words into Indian languages, since the deployment of the software in 2005.

Arun Gupta, CEO of wireless solutions provider Mauj Telecom, told <font color="red'>Business Standard, "Only 3-5 per cent of the Indian population is conversant in English, while Hindi is spoken only in four states "� Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and certain pockets of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Both these languages do not sell from Kashmir to Kanyakumari."

Every state has its own language and identity. Take the case of Maharashtra, where the most commonly used language is Marathi, not Hindi or English.

To get to the heart of the country or really close to it, localisation of content is the key, at least in the 14 official languages to begin with, he said.

Mauj Telecom had earlier launched mobile games in Hindi and seven other Indian languages that included Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Urdu. Further, the company is developing them in three other Indian languages "� Punjabi, Bhojpuri and Kannada "� as well.

The country's largest private sector telecom service provider Reliance Infocomm has launched three mobile games in Hindi and is in advanced stages of launching them in other Indian languages.

According to Mahesh Prasad, president of application solution group at Reliance Infocomm, "The games are rolled out in Hindi, keeping in mind users from the B and C-class towns. Regional flavour and language play a key role in promoting mobile content, which will drive revenues for operators. The demand for local language content on mobile will also grow at a staggering rate."

Not content with Hindi alone, the Anil Ambani-owned company is in advanced stages of rolling out games in Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Marathi, among others.

The ministry of IT and communications is also in the fray. Earlier, during a visit to Mumbai, Dayanidhi Maran had announced the government's plan to develop internet content in local languages and launch a browser in Hindi.

E-mail service providers Hotmail and Google had also Indianised their content, with both the global majors offering e-mail and browsing experience in vernacular languages as well.