News Services On Phones

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order of the day is quick access to information. And several of

the service providers, especially the cellular operators, are

banking on offering it to their customers as a value-add to

differentiate themselves from competitors. A case in point is the

Essar Cellphone-NDTV—the popular Star News programme

production company—tie-up. This was the first cellphone news

channel in the country. Essar’s subscribers access the

latest news in the field of politics, business, international

developments, and sports just by dialling 900 and following the

instructions given by the operator.

The phone service operators are not the only

ones wanting to leverage on news services for the competitive

advantage. Even news service providers want to stay ahead in the

race. And they are using the phones and Internet media to the

optimum advantage. All India Radio (AIR) has recently made its

news broadcasts available on phone and Internet. Dial 3354643 or

3354649 or 3354680 or 3354682 (Delhi) and one can listen to the a

90-second news highlights capsule in English and Hindi. And this

service is available any day, any time, if the lines are not

engaged. If this is a service on the phone side, on the Internet

AIR is reaching out to millions of its listeners through its

sites www.allindiaradio.com and air.kode.net. The

race for better service and access is on, and one thing is sure

that the info seeker would be the gainer.

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