Takers for RCom’s Educational Portal; Exam Guru
Reliance Communications is cashing on the fact that India has more mobile users than internet users. It recently launched IVR based Education Portal named Exam Guru. It was already in the business of sending exam results by SMS. Information associated with education is very basic, and it will always be in demand. Such information should be made available for the lowest cost, if not free.
Last week, Reliance Communications has released an IVR based system where users have to call designated numbers from their Reliance Mobile, for information like exam results, college admissions, event calendar of exams, admission deadlines, mock tests and tips for performing well in exams. This service is not free. The users have to shell out 1 rupee per minute (with subscription to Exam Guru pack 10 rupees for 10 days). For non-subscribers of Exam Guru pack, the charges are 3 rupees per minute.
This launch has reiterated the findings on Value Added Services (VAS) in India from BDAConnect. The study found that IVR is a good medium to disseminate information. But it also pointed out that IVR is not affordable to the masses in India, since the mobile companies are charging a hefty premium on a minute basis.
I found an obvious trend in the search volume from Indian users for key words like exam results and secondary education. There were no sufficient search volumes for keywords like college admissions, event calendar of exams, admission deadlines, mock tests and tips for performing well in exams. Well is this an indication of no market for such information? 
As one would guess, the need for such information spikes in the month of April, May and June every year. This is true for both the keywords exam results and secondary education. The top five cities in terms of search volumes for exam results are Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh in that order. So Exam Guru is going to make most money in Q2 of every year.
For years, Radio played key role in spreading the information on exam results, college admissions, event calendar of exams, admission deadlines etc. Obviously they can’t read out your marks on the radio. Radio has more reach than the mobile phones and the information is free. I would think that trend would continue.
How will the users react if the call was made free by introducing a 8 to 10 seconds advertisement before accessing the IVR menu? If a customer in US calls a toll free number (1-800#) of a service provider (like Internet and Credit Cards), the companies make sure that you listen to their advertisements at some point of time during the call.
By the way, I got my Grade 10 results in a local evening newspaper. I had to visit the college premises to get my Grade 12 and Engineering Results. Good old days!
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