iWorld
RCom and Twitter partner for Cricket World Cup 2015
MUMBAI: Reliance Communications has partnered with Twitter to provide customers with the most comprehensive platform to follow the excitement and global commentary as the world’s 14 cricketing nations compete for the tag of the champion team.
By allowing its users new ways to connect and engage on Twitter and follow the six week tournament, Reliance Communications will look to drive internet adoption and usage during this iconic event, and help drive greater recharges and create stickiness around data usage.
Reliance Communications consumer business CEO Gurdeep Singh said, “We are delighted to partner with Twitter to offer this unique service to all cricket fans for a unique World Cup experience.”
“Cricket is best enjoyed with friends and the fun doubles when you can share exchange with all friends instantly. It is with this thought that Reliance has made Twitter free and inclusive, so that our customers can get the most of this World Cup,” he added.
One unique aspect of this service is that customers who do not have a Twitter account can also access cricket related Tweets by logging on towww.rcom.co.in/cricket on their mobile phones throughout the duration of this global event. RCom customers can engage with players, commentators and celebrities, watch exclusive pictures and videos and of course remain updated with all the latest scores without incurring any data charges.
On the other hand Twitter India and SE Asia director of business development Arvinder Gujral commented, “As a platform for live, public conversations, Twitter has changed the way people connect with sporting and global events including cricket tournaments. All the exciting action on and off the pitch as well as the roar of the Indian cricket fans from Jamagar to Itanagar, and Srinagar to Coimbatore, will be heard on Twitter. Through this partnership, Reliance Communications will enable millions of subscribers across the country to join this cricket party for free and in real-time via Twitter.”
Customers will also be able to follow their favourite accounts and get updates without any data charges from Team India, BCCI and its players, including skipper MS Dhoni, or vice-captain Virat Kohli, the voice of Indian cricket Harsha Bhogle, as well as international legends like Vivian Richards and Shane Warne, amongst many others. Reliance will also encourage users outside the Reliance network to participate in various interactive contests on Twitter on its account @RelianceMobile. Participants could win miniature bats as souvenirs.
In addition to this, Reliance has launched an exclusive Cricket Portal wherein Reliance customers can download exciting content related to the event like match highlights, commentary, and behind the scenes images. All a customer has to do is go to ICCCWC2015.rcom.co.in.
Reliance has also announced an exciting and fun recharge offer where customers who recharge with certain data packs will get free data depending on the runs scored by India during their games. So for a Rs 177 data recharge (Circle-specific MRP), each run India scores will give them an additional 2MB of extra data absolutely free. And if India wins the match, the free data will be doubled.
Through its initiatives and offers, RCom will bring its customers right into the action as the greatest cricketing spectacle takes center stage.
e-commerce
ONDC names Vibhor Jain MD and CEO; Rohit Lohia joins as CBO, Manoj Thakur as CTO
Leadership formalised as open commerce network sharpens focus on scale and user value
The Open Network for Digital Commerce has formalised Vibhor Jain as managing director and chief executive officer, cementing a leadership transition at India’s ambitious open commerce platform as it pushes for scale and relevance.
Jain, who had been serving as acting chief executive officer since April last year following the exit of Thampy Koshy, steps into the role with effect from 7th April , according to a report by The Economic Times. He previously served as chief operating officer at the government-backed network, which enables buyers and sellers to transact across applications through an open, interoperable system.
Setting out his strategy, Jain underscored the network’s differentiated architecture. “Going forward, we are concentrating on what open, interoperable infrastructure can uniquely enable, things that no single platform has the incentive or the architecture to do,” he said.
He added that the immediate priority is to widen ONDC’s impact across user cohorts often underserved by platform-led commerce. “My priority is to deepen the value ONDC creates for the people it exists to serve: kisaans, karigars, kiranas, gig workers, first-time investors, and daily commuters across India,” he said.
Jain also flagged leadership reinforcement within the organisation, noting that ONDC has “a strong and exciting leadership team in place”, with Rohit Lohia joining as chief business officer and Manoj Thakur as chief technology officer.
With over 18 years of experience spanning entrepreneurship and consulting, Jain brings a track record in technology-led, large-scale transformation programmes and internet businesses. At ONDC, he has been closely involved in shaping strategy and operations as the network seeks to move digital commerce away from platform-centric models towards an open network approach.
Before ONDC, Jain worked with JUMO, where he helped set up the fintech firm’s India operations, and led the India launch of Mobike, handling regulatory, policy and operational aspects of its market entry. Earlier, he co-founded Atlanta Healthcare, an air quality management company, and spent more than a decade in consulting roles at Andersen and EY, advising governments on public policy and technology-driven reforms, including work on the Aadhaar programme and tax systems.
The mandate is clear but the path is complex. As ONDC attempts to rewrite the rules of digital commerce, Jain now carries the burden of turning open architecture into mass adoption, in a market still dominated by platform power.
