Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) plans to launch in the near future a mobile banking platform that will help a mobile subscriber send money orders electronically through SMSes. The SMS by the sender will be encashable at all post offices in the country.
In the first phase of BSNL's plan, anyone who wishes to send a money through the money (order) transfer service will have to go to his nearest post office and transfer the money by way of an SMS. The SMS will contain a unique code. The person who receives this SMS can go to his nearest post office and collect the money by showing the code.
This process is expected to save a lot of money as the SMS will reach in real time. This will also help those who do not have a proper address for physical delivery of the money order.
Groceries on SMS
In the next stage of BSNL's plans, a person will be able to use his mobile phone for even buying goods at the local kirana shop or any other store, with the help of an electronic authorisation from his bank on his mobile phone.
BSNL Board Director (Consumer Mobility) R K Agarwal said the platform had been test-piloted in Chandigarh and the state-run telecom major expects to roll out the service in association with the postal department, after getting the Reserve Bank of India's approval.
"The real revolution is going to come when we launch our mobile banking services, on which BSNL is actively working. We have test-piloted a platform in Chandigarh, on which money could be transferred electronically through money orders by sending an SMS," Agarwal told Business Standard.
He, however, said RBI was cautious in its guidelines for mobile banking, as a result of which the proposed roll-out would happen only in a phased manner. "RBI has a cautious policy as it has to check for frauds that may occur," he added.
BSNL intends to help users buy merchandise with electronic authorisation from banks. Agarwal said SBI and YES Bank had come forward to participate in BSNL's mobile banking service platform.
Mobile banking is a concept where you tie up with different banks and system aggregators. "We have already tied up some system integrators, including Obopay," he added.
3G rings in higher Arpu
The launch of 3G cellular services has helped BSNL get an average revenue per user (ARPU) that is 40 per cent higher than that from 2G subscribers, Agarwal said.
BSNL has about 850,000 3G mobile subscribers at present, which is expected to go up to a million by the end of the current financial year. In the next financial year, the company aims to add two million 3G subscribers.
"All 3G services take some time to take off. Customers have started taking our 3G services only since December last year," said Agarwal.
So far, BSNL has rolled out 3G services in 318 cities, which will be extended to 760 cities before the end of March next year. BSNL expects to derive a revenue of Rs 10,500 crore from mobile services, including 3G.
