New Delhi, India: Vodafone India is considering using GIS maps and population data under the ‘Project Pappu’. Through this way, the company aims to strengthen its presence in rural India, Business Standard reported.
Vodafone decided to go off the beaten track by tweaking its network coverage and choosing not to follow the conventional route of a linear expansion along the highways. Instead it covered a villager’s “community of interests.” These are the different pockets or milieus he/she frequents for his/her various socio-economic needs. “Urban guys think they travel a lot. But a villager and his family travels a lot more. They go to various local markets to sell their produce and visit various feeder markets to buy provisions. Their children probably travel to another village for school. It is the same for healthcare services or even a bank,” observed Sunil Sood from Vodafone India. “And they need coverage in each of these locations. Every single village has a unique community.”
“So, Vodafone decided to cover location after location by first identifying the different communities of interest. Using technology like GIS mapping, and population data as a surrogate, the planning also became easier. This way, you go as deep as you can. A village in East UP may have 1250 people. But there’s an 800,000 population within 22 kms. That could be 1,500 villages. And that’s a real community of interest,” added Sood.
Source: Business Standard
