August 6, 2006 at 9:56 pm · Authored by Ewan · Filed under SMS

Link: Indian telcos give voice to the illiterate - Business - Business - theage.com.au.
Ostensibly, ‘voice SMS’ — i.e. a voicemail delivered like an SMS message, souds like a cool value-add. However, as this article in The Age points out, text messaging isn’t that useful if, like many in this world, you don’t read or write.

SENDING text messages on the mobile is as easy as blinking for
millions of people, but for illiterate Indian villagers, it’s like
learning quantum physics.
Unable to write or read English, they cannot send an SMS. Even
those who may have a rudimentary grasp of the language struggle to
type out a message.

This isn’t an issue that I’ve given much thought to — so I’m pleased The Age’s Amrit Dhillon has done so. The article continues:

Since the urban market for mobile phones in India is near saturation, the rural market will provide the next big wave of growth. That’s why operators had to fix the SMS problem.

The solution is called Voice SMS. It is just like leaving a message on an answering machine. The caller dials a short code followed by the mobile number of the person being called and records a message.