Mobile World Congress AWARDS

Best Use of Mobile for Social & Economic Development
Nuance Communications - Airtel-T9 India Consumer Vernacular Messaging Campaigns



This entry is based on creative and innovative programs completed jointly by Bharti Airtel, India’s leading Mobile Carrier, and T9 Predictive Text (now a Nuance Communications product) to drive mobile vernacular messaging in India. The objective was to promote Hindi script to communicate via SMS -- utilizing Hindi T9 -- to Hindi-speaking family and friends. The result, measured by Airtel messaging servers, was a sharp uptake in SMS usage. This represents a social phenomenon against globalization: by utilizing mobile phones, Indian society can maintain Hindi and vernacular language script, and thereby retain traditional linguistic and cultural identity into the 21st century.

Judges' comments: "A truly moving project that combines technology and tradition to protect and encourage the use of a language that is core to a national identity. With literacy posing a major issue with SMS, this is one very impactful way of resolving it."