Vodafone Starts Voice SMS Service in India

Vodafone Essar, a cellular service provider, has launched Voice SMS service in several cities in India. The new service will help Vodafone (News - Alert) customer to send voice SMS messages to a mobile subscriber, anywhere in India, for a fixed price of $0.01 per minute.

 

Vodafone Essar, previously Hutchison Essar, covers 21 telecom circles India and offers both prepaid and postpaid GSM cellular phone coverage throughout India and is especially strong in the major metros.

 

Kirusa, a leading vendor of Voice SMS and developer of mobile value added services has deployed its Voice SMS application, integrated with HP Opencall Media Platform, in the Vodafone network across India.

 

Vodafone subscriber can simply dial "*" with their existing mobile to desired person and can speak up to 30 second before disconnecting. If the recipient is a Vodafone subscriber, he will receive a text SMS notification and can dial *0* to hear the Voice SMS. Old Voice SMS can be retrieved by dialing *1*. There is an option for users to reply, forward, save or deleting the Voice SMS messages.

 

Subscribers who are not on Vodafone network will get a text SMS notification with an embedded DirectListen number.

 

Commenting on the launch, Harit Nagpal, director of Marketing and New Business at Vodafone Essar said: "We are delighted that our subscribers will now have another option of reaching out to their friends, family and business associates."

 

In a country growing as fast as India, a strategic and well managed business plan is critical to success. Indian customers, especially in rural belts are experiencing mobile services to larger extent and the volume is expected to enhance over a period of time.

 

"We are excited to work with Vodafone to bring Voice SMS to its subscribers across India. I am sure that with Vodafone entering this market, both the usage and subscriber awareness will accelerate, leading to increased ARPU and incremental revenues," says Taranjit Singh Batra, vice president of Sales of Kirusa (News - Alert). The adoption of the Voice SMS service by Indian carriers and consumers is allowing Voice SMS to enter a mass adoption phase like text SMS.

 

Erwan Menard, vice president and general manager of Communications and Media Solutions at HP, said: "Vodafone Essar is building customer loyalty with this highly innovative service enabled by Kirusa and HP. The HP OpenCall Media Platform and Kirusa's Voice SMS solution create a powerful combination that will help Vodafone deliver a rich communications experience for its millions of wireless customers."