B'lore firm sets up video conferencing kiosks

At a time when the street-side Public Call Offices (PCOs) are on the decline owing to advent of mobile telephone services offering cheaper tariff, a Bangalore-based company has developed a kiosk providing broadband video conferencing facility for public use.

21st Century Information Technology Pvt Ltd, which has developed the kiosk in association with UK-based Iqara Enterprises, began its new service on a high note by setting up the kiosk at the Legislators' Home (LH), the official hostelry of the Karnataka MLAs and MLCs, in Bangalore on Wednesday.

"The kiosk, called 'V-Darpan', will soon be established at 800 locations through a franchise in Bangalore. Another 300 kiosks will be set up in Mysore next month. We intend to expand the network all over the state. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has granted us the requisite licence," 21st Century Information Technology administrative officer H R Madhusudhan Reddy told Business Standard.

The tariff has been fixed at Rs 3 per minute. "This is much lower than the BSNL tariff of Rs 10 per minute. While BSNL's video conferencing facility is available only to customers with broadband connection at their homes and offices, our kiosks will be for public use," Reddy added.

He pointed out that a majority of the PCOs were running under loss due to cheaper mobile phone service. "We will network the PCO operators to start V-Darpan service. The investment per kiosk is Rs 1 lakh. We have tied up with nationalised banks, which will provide 70 per cent financial assistance," Reddy said.

Initially, the service will be from kiosk to kiosk. Subsequently, calls will be possible from the kiosk to any computer with a broadband connection. The V-Darpan, set up at

the Legislators' Home in association with the Bangalore Media Centre, was inaugurated by Legislative Assembly speaker Krishna and Legislative Council chairman V R Sudarshan.

The new facility will work round the clock to facilitate interaction between legislators and government officials, and the public of their respective constituencies.

"As many as 27 V-Darpans will be established at all deputy commissioners' offices in districts in the first phase. Subsequently, kiosks will come up at panchayat level to enhance reach and penetration," Reddy said.