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Increase in Internet Usage on Mobile and Usage of Mobile Devices for Business in India
In a session on Mobile and Wireless at Interop, Nilay Yajnik observed an increase in the application of mobile phones for driving business
In the Mobile and Wireless sessions at Interop 2009, speakers observed an increase in the usage of mobile devices in the country.
Swetank Dixit, Web Evangelist for Opera Software India, in his presentation 'How People Are Using the Mobile Web' explained that the usage of Internet via mobile devices was on the rise. Dixit was quoting findings from Operas research on Web usage on mobile phones said, Usage of Web on mobile in India has been more for leisure purposes such as downloading games music and video. The research also estimates that Google was the most accessed search engine by mobile phone users in India, followed by social networking sites such as Facebook and Orkut and others such as YouTube, Wikipedia and Zedge.net.
Rahul Kulkarni, Senior Manager Marketing, Siemens Enterprise Communications, in his presentation on 'Demystifying Fixed Mobile Convergence' observed, "50 percent of the mobile phone bills are due to intra-company calling with employees using the mobile phone to make calls even within the enterprise instead of using the companys communication infrastructure. This indicates that mobile workers are looking for convenience and not cost effectiveness.
This results in employees paying service providers for calls which could have been made at a cheaper cost via the companys communication infrastructure. To overcome this issue, Kulkarni suggests using an appliance through which technologies such as SIP will automatically switch a call on an employees Wi-Fi enabled cell phone; between the companys Wi-Fi based IP network; and the service providers GSM network, when the employee moves out of the company premises.
Kamaljit Rastogi, Head of Products at Financial Information Network and Operations (FINO) spoke about using mobile phones in rural areas for the financial inclusion of rural population. This is an issue since in rural areas, the penetration of broadband for online banking and ATM machines is low.
Through a smart card and a Point of Sale (POS) device and a mobile phone application, FINO has designed a solution that allows people from rural areas to enjoy personalized access to financial services. The company also has tie-ups with the government which allow it to take this offering to the rural population across the country.
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