Vodafone, in association with The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, organized the 3rd Annual Vodafone-BCC&I Tech Meet 2017 – a symposium on “Connecting Bengal Digitally” on 13th December 2017 at ITC Sonar, Kolkata.

Shri Bratya Basu, Hon’ble Minister-in-Charge of IT & Electronics Department, Government of West Bengal was the Chief Guest. Shri Debashis Sen, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, IT & Electronics Department, Government of West Bengal was the Guest of Honour.

Shri Debashis Sen mentioned that Vodafone may partner with his Department for implementation of public wifi. He also spoke about Mpesa and its possible integration with bitcoin and block chain. He extended his invitation to Vodafone to launch 5G in Kolkata first.

Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta, Past President, The Bengal Chamber set the agenda for the evening. Mr. Nick Gliddon, Director, Enterprise Business Services, Vodafone India shared the outlook on the growth journey of Vodafone on digital platform. Mr. Arvinder Singh Sachdev, Business Head Kolkata & Rest of Bengal, Vodafone Mobile Services Ltd. shared Vodafone’s Offerings and Visions on “Connecting Bengal Digitally”.

Mr. Dasgupta shared his insights on geo-political dynamics and technology consumption in context of the same. Global Value Chain (GVC) is now shifting to Asian Countries for various reasons. This is reflected in many Chinese and Japanese initiatives. It is evident that in the present context the other Asian countries will also witness economic prosperity. With prosperity, these countries will use more technology to compete with the Western World. West Bengal, with its strategic location, plays significant role in this Region. IT&E Department of the Government of West Bengal is working on strategies to leverage this. The Bengal Chamber also has a major focus on Regional Connectivity and West Bengal’s Role towards the same. Mr. Dasgupta mentioned that companies like Vodafone play important roles in making West Bengal technologically more empowered to achieve its potentiality.

The programme also featured presentations by CESC on ‘AMR & Street Lighting’; Wizard on Creating Digital Infrastructure for BPOs’ and Kolkata Police on ‘Modernization of Traffic Solutions’. Mr. Kaushik Banerjee, VP & Head- Vodafone Business Services, Kolkata& Rest of Bengal moderated the Session.