• IVR Service Provider
• Articles

Spice Digital Launches IVR-based Audio Blogging Platform in Bangladesh

By Frank Griffin, Contributing Writer

As a value added service (VAS) mobile company, Spice Digital offers many different types of services for its customers. Value added service providers differentiate themselves from regular telecoms by giving their customers the freedom to pick and choose what they like without being required to sign long term contracts, and  being able to collaborate with multiple operators.

In fact, the company offers an assortment of services including banking solutions, video on demand, astrology, devotional, education, ticketing and crop advisory to name a few.

Its latest offering is an IVR or Interactive voice response-based audio blogging platform in Bangladesh called Voice Tube. The voice blog gives the user the ability to create audio content so it can be shared with ease.

Voice Tube gives the user a maximum of two minutes of recorded speech and then creates a unique MSISDN (Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number) which it sends to the user using SMS. Followers of the blogger also receive the SMS so they can listen to the audio content, make comments and share it on social media sites such as Facebook (News - Alert). The service is priced at two Taka ($1 USD = 78 Taka) for two days with 20 minutes of user time.

This type of voice service has been tried in India in the past with limited success. Spice Digital hopes to introduce other services with Voice Tube to engage the consumer for a longer period. Educational programs that can be accessed on mobile phones is one service the company is considering after witnessing the success of the BBC, as well as its English lessons on mobile, called BBC Janala.

Currently, it has a platform called Access to Information services, which provides information for the government in Bangladesh. Spice Digital has even deployed an information outlet for the state owned telecom company for making inquiries for tax information, birth certificates, passport requests and other essential information. The company is going to provide 30 more additional services for different governmental departments in the country in the not so distant future.