Tata Teleservices M-Education initiative launched

6 February 2008

A new initiative aimed at helping distance learning and support learning in rural communities and for the physically challenged will soon hit mobiles. Called Mobile Education (M-Education), the initiative is an attempt by Tata Teleservices to promote education in the remotest corners of the nation.

Tata Tele has tied up with with SNDT Women's University, ATOM Tech (Any Transaction on Mobile), and Indian PCO Teleservices (IPTL) for the service. As per the deal, SNDT University will develop and manage content for Tata Indicom on its service channels , while ATOM will provide the intermediary interfaces and IPTL will look after service distribution and dissemination system. The M-Education service will be available in Hindi and English. However, the alliance plans to make the service available in other regional languages later.

Tata Teleservices' M-Education will offer contemporary content to students and do away with the need to visit physical schools and colleges, thus bridging the physical distances using CDMA technology.

This is how it will work. The mobile phone transforms itself from a mere device that allows users access to voice and text messaging the one that proffers accredited educational content and takes mock tests on the move, regardless of geographies or physical constraints.

Tata Teleservices had been working on this initiative for some time now and hopes that it would trigger a shift from the paper format to mobile format and impact both women and education.