A branch of the Government of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has launched a free a free SMS news service under the guidance of National Media Centre, inaugurated few days ago. The service was launched alongside a program – Bharat Nirman online publishing platform.
The free SMS service intends to keep users updated about the current affairs. Under the free SMS service, registered listeners will be receive news updates, free of cost on their mobile phones. The SMS will include a headline and messages of up to 100 characters in length. It will also have some advertisement related content in the same message.
All India Radio Provides free SMS news service
The messages will be sent by AIR (All India Radio) only to registered users. The organization has already sought permission from Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in this regard. Interested readers can register their devices for the SMS service by sending an SMS ‘AIRNWS’ <-space-> ‘NAME’ to 8082080820 or users can also subscribe by giving a missed call to 08082080820.
Manish Tewari, Information and Broadcasting Minister, India said,
The SMS service began on a pilot scale about six months back. As it received overwhelming response, its reach was being widened. AIR is able to access information from extremely remote parts of the country and with this service, we want to ensure events taking place in northeast and others parts, get mainstreamed.
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting formulates and maintains rules and laws relating to information, broadcasting, the press and films in India. It also heads important body ‘CENSOR BOARD’ which regulates motion pictures shown in India.
Archana Dutta (Director General AIR) stated that the free SMS news alerts would be sent to mobile phones thrice a day along with public utility messages.
