PCO Mapping & Connectivity

Transcription

1 PCO Mapping & Connectivity Reaching more children in need of care and protection. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 1

2 Framework for 1098 PCO Mapping PCO service providers Geographical Area / Location of the PCO Connectivity Target Audience: Children in need of care & protection Easy Accessibility To the Toll Free number 1098 Nearest CHILDLINE Centre December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 2

3 Basics is toll-free from all BSNL/MTNL lines. Toll-free: all calls terminating on a designated BSNL/MTNL phone line are not charged to either the caller or to the CHILDLINE centre. Terminating : when the calls land at the phone instrument and the instruments rings to let you know someone is calling. It is different from a 1800 number which is free to the caller but charged to the called party. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 3

4 Basics is a category II number in the National Numbering plan. National Numbering Plan: prepared by Department of Telecomm, Ministry of Comm. & IT to ensure uniform numbering system across the country: land lines are 8 digit, mobiles are 10 digit, emergency numbers which are mandatory ( Category I) are 3 digit, social sector lines are 4 digits and caller charge-free calls are Category II means it is not mandatory for all Telecom Service Providers to offer this service. Telecom Service Providers: MTNL, BSNL, AIRTELL, HUTCH, IDEA, AIRCELL and so on- all companies that provide telephone services. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 4

5 Basics- 3 Telephone services: may be land line or mobile. Different technologies exist for providing service. Some lay copper wires from instrument to exchange, some use digital signals. Digital signals: can be in a small radius and works like a TV remote or can be from instrument to towers or can be via satellites. BSNL & MTNL: lay cables to connect. Tata and Reliance use BSNL/MTNL network and connect with digital signals in radius of 30 Kms ( Wireless in Closed Loop technology). December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 5

6 Basics- 4 Telecom sector is de-regulated. This means anyone can offer services- no license is required. However, Department of Telecom controls airwaves and charges fee for allowing telecom companies to use signals in India. Permission is given in telecom Circles - these are geographical zones. All telecom service providers can offer both landline as well as mobile services. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) regulates the services provided by telecom companies to ensure customer s interests are protected. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 6

7 Basics- 5 Telephone instruments can be imported or assembled in India or made in India. The type and reliability of Public Call Office (PCO) instruments need to be certified by C-DOT. C-DOT is the organisation that designs telephone exchanges. PCO instruments in the market can be a variety- old, new, and based on different technologies. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 7

8 Basics-6 Connection between users of different phone services is determined by the quality of interconnection between telecom service providing companies. Interconnection: How a phone provided by (for e.g.) TATA is able to connect to a BSNL land line or how a Airtell mobile user can connect to a Hutch user. Interconnection is determined by a Interconnect agreement between telecom companies that allows them to pay each other for servie provided to their customers. For e.g. if a Airtell mobile user from Cochin travels to Hyderabad and he gets service from BPL then BPL has to be paid by Airtell. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 8

9 1098 basics is toll free on BSNL and MTNL. It requires the technical team in each BSNL/MTNL exchange to identify one instrument/number in each circle on which all incoming 1098 calls can terminate. This happens when we approach the local BSNL/MTNL exchange and ask them to start 1098 service in a city. Then we have to specify the BSNL/MTNL number and location (CHILDLINE Collab) where the incoming calls can terminate. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 9

10 1098 basics-2 We then conduct Outreach programs in areas where we know children in need of care and protection are likely to be. We ask children or concerned adults to call How do they call?- from a PCO. Thus a PCO is critical to us. At a PCO we can easily prove to the child or the PCO owner that it is tollfree by dialing without inserting coins. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 10

11 PCOs- the issues-1 If a PCO is not available in the target geographical part of the city, what can we do? We can approach BSNL/MTNL to set up a PCO- this is advocacy for getting a PCO installed and will need support from members of CAB and/or local MLA/MP. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 11

12 PCOs- the issues-2 If a BSNL/MTNL PCO exists we can have other problems: either the PCO does not connect to 1098 or the instrument cant accept a 4 digit number. In order to solve connectivity problem we have to meet BSNL/MTNL exchange and get service started. If instrument does not dial a 4 digit number we have to report to C-DOT so they can get the manufacturer of the instrument ( who services the instrument through a local agent) to rectify the instrument. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 12

13 PCOs the issue- 3 What if PCO exists but offers a service from a private telecom service provider like Reliance or Tata or Hutch or Airtell? Then the issue for us will be one of interconnectivity i.e. how to get the PCO connected to the BSNL/MTNL phone at the CHILDLINE centre so that calls can land on 1098 from these PCOs. This is Telecom advocacy. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 13

14 PCOs- the key issues for 1098 PCO must be in locations where our children can reach them. Instruments must connect to 1098 PCO owner must co-operate and allow children to call. We must be able to link the children in the area to the PCOs in the area. Q: How do we know this is happening? A: we don t: so we need to do PCO Mapping December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 14

15 PCO Mapping- 1 A detailed list of every single PCO in each CHILDLINE city. Location, type of instrument, model number, manufacturer, telecom service provider, owner s name and contact details, testing of instrument for dialing Every Collab and Support centre must have this information Once we know how many PCOs exist and how many work, we can then link children to the nearest ones. PCO mapping must be updated once every year and testing must be done on every single PCO once every 6 months. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 15

16 PCO Mapping- 2 From the PCO Mapping we will get an idea of how many BSNL/MTNL PCOs need repairs to get them to connect. We will know how many and which PCOs use private telecom service provided PCOs. We will know where to get new PCOs installed We will also get to know which telecom service provider is most critical for us in each area. Besides, it allows us to set a goal of a minimum of 5 calls per PCO per year to If there are PCO in Thiruvanatapuram, we must get atleast 50,000 calls on December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 16

17 Connectivity- 1 Connectivity for 1098 means that all 1098 dialed calls from any telecom service provider s instrument- whether mobile or landline or PCO must terminate on our BSNL/MTNL instrument at the CHILDLINE centre. In order for this to happen private telecom service providers must agree to transfer 1098 calls to the BSNL/MTNL exchange from where it will be routed to our centre. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 17

18 Connectivity- 2 Will BSNL/MTNL agree to receive 1098 calls from a private telecom service provider s number? Yes if a interconnect charge is paid to them for each such call. But who will foot this bill ( 30 paise per call)? Either BSNL/MTNL has to agree not to charge or private telecom service provider has to agree to pay and not charge caller. How can this happen? December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 18

19 Telecom Advocacy We have to talk to each private telecom service provider to persuade them to agree to bear the interconnect charge. Or we have to get TRAI to make 1098 mandatory for private service providers Or we have to get Dept of Telecom to agree that BSNL/MTNL will not charge interconnect charges Or we have to get Ministry of Comm & IT to agree to make 1098 a category I service in National Numbering plan. We are working on all of these options but we need PCO Mapping for each city done. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 19

20 WHAT WE DON T WANT We cannot accept each telecom service provider to provide a instrument at each of CHILDLINE centre and receive calls from each service provider s network on their own instrument. This is too complicated as it doesn t work on mobiles that are not in the city of subscription when calls are made. Besides each CHILDLINE centre would have several instruments from different telecom service providers. December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 20

21 The reason why PCO mapping and Interconnectivity are important PCO Mapping PCO service providers Geographical Area / Location of the PCO Connectivity Target Audience: Children in need of care & protection Easy Accessibility To the Toll Free number 1098 Nearest CHILDLINE Centre December 2006 CHILDLINE India Foundation 21