News

India expanding community kiosk program

February 27, 2002

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NEW DELHI, India - The concept of the post office as a community e-gathering place is gaining momentum in India, as government officials on the sub-continent develop plans to expand the country's post office-based information kiosk service.

A five-year project to establish 30 of the kiosks, known as CICs, at postal branches in eight Indian states was completed in October of 2000. The kiosks provide Internet and e-mail services.

The initial project has proven so successful that Indian Minister of Information Technology Pramad Mahajan, working with Department of Posts Secretary B.N. Som, has proposed expanding the program to 487 branches throughout the region. Eventually, the kiosks would be available throughout the country, which has a population of just over one billion according to the United Nations.

"In the beginning, we would connect the CICs in the (region) with our services, but later the entire country would be linked through a virtual post office," Som told the Economic Times. "It would evolve into a parallel campus for community connectivity."

Mahajan's department plans to expand the project beyond Internet and e-mail access and offer other services, including IT training, educational services, and health information.