Karnataka govt to bridge digital divide via ePCOs

By Juby Thomas, SiliconIndia   |   Thursday, 28 October 2010, 23:24 IST   |    3 Comments
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Bangalore: The Karnataka government has launched its first "ePCO", facility in Bangalore with an aim to empower Individuals and enhance their livelihoods. It is an innovative business model that extends citizen services through the traditional PCOs. This can be said as the primary step towards bridging the digital divide. The ePCO, is a joint initiative of Intel, State PCO Asociation, BSNL Karnataka and ItzCash, would offer citizens online services, including railway, airline and bus ticket booking, utility bill payments, mobile recharges, insurance and banking and other online transactions. There are five thousand ePCOs opened in the state and through the help of over 2 lakh BSNL PCOs, the ePCO program will serve as IT change centers in urban, semi urban and especially in rural Karnataka. The program also aims to boost BPO services by converting the ePCOs as BPO units for local stationed firms. Government will provide an additional revenue stream for budding entrepreneurs and small businesses along with enhanced employment and livelihood opportunities. This can be said as an excellent step in making technology more affordable and accessible to a much larger number of people. The government expects it as a great opportunity to take broadband to rural India. The ePCOs will offer a good revenue model.