Talk-time exchange
Idea #1: How about a talk-time exchange?
Have you ever wondered how your prepaid card could lose all its balance just as your are dying to make that one critical phone call in your mobile?
And you would be far off from the potti kadai which sells prepaid cards of your mobile operator.
I think the solution should be as simple as when you ask your buddy
(”Machi oru 100 Rs. Talk time credit kai maatha anuppu da.. nalaiku thiruppi tharen”).
That’s it. All your buddy needs to do is SMS his mobile operator, and ask them to transfer 100Rs. talk time to your phone no. He immediately gets a confirmation call or SMS and he authenticates/confirms the deal. Kaam katham
Of course the operator takes a cut and if there are two operators involved, both take a cut. It’s business. after all..
We can limit the transfer to 100 Rs. maximum per transfer and test run this.
Who wins?
You win because you are able to make that critical phone call.
Your buddy wins because he need not feel his talk time will expire unused unless he starts his kadalai session with his girlfriend (adhuku dhaan office phone irukkey!!).
Next time onwards, he can boldly go for a higher talk time value card sans fear of losing it by the expiry date.
The operator does not lose anything either. He deducts the talk-time of X and credits Y for and takes a cut for every such transfer. What the heck, people need not keep staring at the phone nor give missed calls and can make calls instead, which means better end user experience etc etc. Soon enough, someone will let his talk time be auctioned in eBay if its worthwhile.
From the angles I see, its WIN WIN WIN. Any takers, arguments??
PS: content within paranthesis is tamil, if you don’t get it, forget it 
August 26th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
in africa its more advances, people transfer prepaid talktime to one another rather thanusing money in remote areas. IF u buy goods, u can pay the seller by transferring talktime to his account. Simple, and is more secure than carrying money. Sorry am not able to find the link online.
August 27th, 2007 at 5:35 am
Great idea… if only it is implemented
August 27th, 2007 at 11:43 am
vatsan,
your comment is precisely the idea of this series of posts.
but for this to work, you may need an option to redeem that talk time to cash at some part in the chain. otherwise it will not work.
raaga,
thank u
August 28th, 2007 at 1:57 am
pk, if everyone accepts talktime as payment why does it need to be redeemed? anyway this option is available.
paper money has value becoz everyone accepts it as payment. next talktime can be accepted instead of paper money, then the dependence on cash decreases.
August 28th, 2007 at 5:51 am
Vatsan,
>>everyone accepts talktime as payment
When you adopt a new method, I’m sure not everyone will accept.
In a country like India, even cheques and credit cards are not accepted everywhere.
Unless that option is available, people will be sceptical. We need that option, whether we use it or not later on.
August 28th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
This facility is available in Australia with Telstra, couple of years back they introduced this and it not only helps friends but also children, who want to contact their parents. Telstra has also introduced a SMS service from its payphones. I quit working for Telstra nearly three years back, but I regularly hear that its doing good. As you said, WIN WIN WIN.
August 29th, 2007 at 6:27 am
deepak
thats interesting to know.
Its good that i said very clearly i lay no claims to 100% originality.
Y’day one guy told me “ennamo neenga pudusa idea solra mdhiri eludhirkeenga….”
That was not the intention. I did not know that this existed in Australia. Maybe the Airtel, Hutch guys do not know either.
Chances are (well 1 in a million) they read your comment and come to know about it
September 1st, 2007 at 8:03 pm
PK, I very much like this idea blog concept! Chennai oda garbage problem ku oru solution please! I have my own theories on it..but I want to hear what others think!
September 2nd, 2007 at 12:09 pm
subha
thanks!
mudalla unnoda solution sollu … naanga padara kashtam engaluku dhaan theriyum!!