BSNL consumers can set up free e-mail in eight Indian languages

Taking forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Digital India, the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Wednesday launched DataMail service allowing users to set up their e-mail addresses in eight Indian languages. Apart from English, the other languages in which users can set up their e-mail IDs include Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Marathi, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati and Telugu.

Now BSNL broadband users will be able to open an email ID in DataMail service in their own language. It is free to be downloaded from any Android or iOS platform, the telecom company in a statement said.

The move comes after the launch of .Bharat (in Hindi script) domain in Indian languages to increase the reach of Internet users by providing domain names in their own language so as to cover over 70 per cent of the country's population living in the rural and remote areas.

“Providing the linguistic email address is one of-its-kind-initiative in the world to achieve Prime Minister’s Vision of Digital India,” said Anupam Shrivastava, who is Managing Director of BSNL.

The BSNL CMD said that it had become possible in every part of India to have an email address of their own language and users can communicate in their preferred language.

In order to use the service, BSNL users can download the DataMail app from the Google Play store or Apple Store, select the language in which they want their email address, select the checkbox ‘I am a BSNL broadband Customer’, and add the BSNL number with STD code. Thereafter, the customer will receive a one-time password (OTP) on their registered mobile number, and can type their email address in their language.

As per Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators Report (April-June, 2016) released by TRAI, total Internet subscribers in India are about 350.48 million which account for about 30 per cent of the country's population.

Indian languages account for less than 0.1 per cent content on world wide web and over 89 per cent population is non-English speaking and unable to read and communicate via email as the language utilised to communicate is English, the statement said.

“The most spoken languages in India in 2016, according to our analysis based on secondary data, are approximately Hindi (544.39 million), Bengali (107.60 million), Telugu (95.4 million), Marathi (92.74 million), Tamil (78.41 million), Urdu (66.47 million), Gujarati (59.44 million), Kannada (48.96 million), Punjabi (37.55 million), Assamese (16.98 million),” the statement said.

In another important development, the BSNL is all set to launch mobile app with State Bank of India (SBI) in Assam for digital transaction. The move is aimed at facilitating cashless transaction. Talking to reporters, MK Seth, Chief General Manager of BSNL, said, the app will help people, even in remote areas, in digital banking.