Airtel launches its emergency alert service in eastern region

Airtel has now expanded its emergency alert service to the eastern region of the country. The service, launched in December 2012, is aimed at the women's safety and allows users to send an alert to 10 contacts in case of any emergency.

Bharti Airtel has launched its emergency alert service in the eastern region of the country. The service, aimed at the women subscribers, allows one to send an alert with their geographical location to their 10 contacts.

According to Vir Inder Nath, Chief Operating Officer, Kolkata and West Bengal Telecom Circle, Bharti Airtel, the company is in talks with the local police department to have a police helpline number on the loop.

"Out of total customer base of around 19 million customer base in the states of West Bengal and Odisha, one-third would be female. We expect subscription for this service from about 10 per cent from female customer," Vir Inder Nath is quoted as saying.

Airtel had launched the emergency alert service in December last year. The service is priced at Rs. 30 with a validity of 30 days. To send the alert via SMS, users need to type HELP in the message box and send it to 55100, which will be then sent to all 10 contacts. To send the alert via call, users need to call at 55100 and the registered contacts will get the voice alerts with location details of the customer. Find out more about the emergency alert service here.

In the wake of Delhi gang-rape incident, there's been growing concern for the women's safety in the country. Recently, Nashik youths developed Me Against Rape app for Android platform, which allows users send emergency SMS with one tap. The app includes a one-touch helpline facility, recording facility, and can send location and time details every 10 minutes — including latitude, longitude, address and Google Maps link. Read more about the Me Against Rape app here.

Apart from the Me Against Rape app, there are various similar emergency alert apps such as FightBack, EyeWatch, WhyPoll and Nirbhaya.

It's worthy to mention here that the Indian government is also working on a wristwatch with GPS capabilities that could help prevent incidents of sexual violence. According to Union Minister Kapil Sibal, he device was being developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, a government agency.