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Telenity provides location-based services to BSNL
MUMBAI: Telenity, a provider of next generation converged services platforms and applications for communications networks, will be providing location-based services (LBS) solution to India’s state-owned telecom giant, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) through its partner Tier 1 network equipment providers (NEPs).
Telenity provides its Canvas LES, Location Enabling Server, and 14 location-based services to BSNL that will enable the operator to offer personalised value added location-based services to its mobile customers. This highly scalable location solution will serve BSNL network infrastructure expected to grow from approximately 14 million to 70 million subscribers, and is expected to support world’s largest deployment to date.
“Location-based value added services are absolutely essential for carriers to effectively compete and differentiate in the wireless marketplace. Worldwide carrier revenues from location-based services are expected to climb from a little less than $1 billion in 2005 to nearly $8.5 billion by 2010,” said Telenity CEO Dilip Singh.
“Our converged location and presence solution supports complete and total privacy of location-based services across any network. It not only increases BSNL’s enhanced service offerings and ARPU, but just as significantly, enables BSNL to aggressively pursue a wide variety of new business models, including resale and revenue sharing options. This deployment shows Telenity’s commitment to serve one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world,” he added.
Telenity’s LBS solution is a crucial part of BSNL’s expansion of its GSM/GPRS digital wireless network in the south, east and north zones of India. It includes Telenity’s Canvas LES, which ensures subscribers can easily find, locate or monitor phones and other assets based on their geographic position, points of interest and securely fine-tune their privacy profile on the fly when they want it and 14 location-based services including:
Real Time Fleet and Asset Management – enables enterprises to locate, monitor and manage their mobile assets and employees in a secure way using a simple Web browser.
Friend Finder – alerts subscribers when one of their friends in their buddy list is in close proximity to their location or vice versa.
Mobile Yellow Pages – allows subscribers to get the location of the closest service point of their interest.
City Sightseeing – provides subscribers with the location information of a place of interest – restaurant, museum, theater, park, etc.
Telenity’s LBS solution is developed utilizing the Canvas service creation environment, telephony applications server and service delivery gateway. Telenity’s LBS solution is the most comprehensive and advanced in the world today and is positioned for VAS in IP Multimedia Subsystem enabled and 3G networks.
“As we expand our network, our main goal is to meet the personalisation needs of our fast growing subscriber base and strengthen our position in the industry as an innovator and leader in mobile value added services. The location-based services solution from Telenity will allow differentiate BSNL mobile value added services and increase average revenues per user,” said BSNL general manager mobile services S. Krishnan.
“Within just more then a year of operation in India, Telenity has expanded its workforce to fully support customers in India,. We are rapidly moving ahead with our commitment in the region by establishing center of excellence for APAC in India. This will ensure BSNL services are up and running all the time” said Telenity general manager Asia Pacific Ashwani Vachher.
India is among the fastest growing telecommunications markets in the world. In a country of over one billion people, teledensity now stands at about eleven percent or around 120 million people. This figure is expected to grow to 30 per cent by 2010, according to the Department of Telecommunications of India.
iWorld
WhatsApp emerges as key commerce channel in India: Meta report
Whitepaper shows 77 per cent of purchases influenced by social media and shoppers spend 2.5 times more across channels
MUMBAI: If shopping once meant a stroll down the high street, today it begins with a scroll on a smartphone. India’s retail journey is being rewritten in real time, as consumers glide between Instagram Reels, WhatsApp chats and physical stores with barely a pause for thought. A new whitepaper by Meta in collaboration with the Retailers Association of India argues that this shift is not cosmetic but structural, powered by artificial intelligence, short form video, creators and conversational commerce.
The numbers underline the scale of the change.
Social media now influences 77 per cent of retail purchase decisions in India, with Meta’s platforms accounting for 96 per cent of social driven discovery. Discovery itself is increasingly passive and visual rather than deliberate and search led. As much as 97 per cent of consumers watch short form video daily, and 60 per cent of time spent on Facebook and Instagram is devoted to video content.
In other words, the shop window has moved to the feed.
The report highlights the growing dominance of the omnichannel shopper, a consumer who researches and buys fluidly across online and offline environments. More than 50 per cent of retail consumers research products online before purchasing in store. Equally, over 50 per cent browse in store before completing their purchase online.
This blended behaviour is lucrative. Shoppers who buy across channels spend 2.5 times more than single channel shoppers. When customers engage across multiple touchpoints, spending rises by as much as 73 per cent. For retailers, unified commerce is no longer a strategy slide. It is a revenue imperative.
Meta India director of E commerce and retail Meghna Apparao, urged brands to focus on three pillars: Reels and creators for authentic storytelling, omnichannel performance marketing to connect platforms, and WhatsApp as a personalised commerce channel. Hitesh Bhatt of RAI noted that the challenge is no longer adopting digital tools but integrating them to deliver measurable outcomes.
Artificial intelligence sits at the heart of this integration. Indian retailers using Meta’s omnichannel optimisation have recorded more than fourfold improvements in omnichannel return on ad spend. Businesses that integrated in store sales data through Meta’s Conversions API have reported Roas uplift ranging from 2 times to 5 times or more, alongside incremental sales growth of up to 9 times depending on category and market.
Integrated data strategies have also delivered revenue growth of up to 15 per cent, suggesting that when digital signals are tied to offline outcomes, marketing efficiency sharpens considerably.
Retailers are already putting this into practice. Reliance Digital has leaned into a Reels first strategy, working with regional creators to drive engagement and measurable business impact. Croma says Meta’s AI powered tools have enabled it to integrate offline data and activate performance marketing across touchpoints, strengthening both footfall and revenue across online and physical stores.
Trust is increasingly creator led. The report finds that 71 per cent of consumers make a purchase within a couple of days of seeing creator content on Meta’s technologies. Campaigns that leverage reels and creators have delivered 71 per cent higher brand intent lift and 19 per cent lower acquisition costs.
Micro and nano creators, in particular, are accelerating purchase decisions by embedding products into relatable, local narratives. Influence is no longer confined to celebrity endorsements. It is distributed, conversational and continuous.
If Instagram and Facebook drive discovery, WhatsApp is emerging as the conversion engine. According to the report, 72 per cent of product discovery now happens on WhatsApp. Retailers using business messaging and click to WhatsApp campaigns are seeing a 61 per cent average improvement in return on ad spend, a 62 per cent increase in leads and 22 per cent higher order values.
The implication is clear. Commerce is shifting from clicks to conversations. Discovery, purchase and post purchase support increasingly unfold within a single chat thread.
The whitepaper argues that omnichannel maturity will define competitiveness in Indian retail. Consumers no longer toggle between online and offline modes. They operate across both simultaneously, often within the same buying journey.
For brands, the task is no longer about being present on digital platforms. It is about stitching together discovery, data, conversation and store experience into a unified loop that can be measured in footfall, revenue and repeat purchase.
As India’s shoppers continue to scroll before they stroll, the retailers who align AI, creators and messaging into one seamless experience may find that the path to growth is less about adding new channels and more about connecting the ones they already have.
