for Rons Bantwal
from Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai (SM)
Mumbai, Sep 1: MTNL in association with Aksh Optifibre announced the launch of India’s first legal and cheapest Voice-over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services here on Friday August 31.
The service will enable MTNL broadband subscribers to call US, UK, Canada and Australia at rates as low as Rs 1 per minute changing the voice calling experience forever. The customer using this service will be able to call international just like making calls from a normal telephone without the need of a PC.
The VOIP service will be available to Broadband Customers of MTNL. The VOIP uses SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) for transporting voice packets. The present System capacity is 50,000 for VoIP subscribers and the target fixed is 10.000 connections for this financial year and 50.000 connections for the subsequent year.This facility shall also be available to all MTNL PCO holders. The service is launched initially on prepaid basis.
The call charges from VoIP to PSTN / Mobile phone to US, UK, Canada, and Australia shall be Re 1 per minute and for Japan, Malaysia Rs 2/ per minute. The service shall be available to about 150 countries.
The service is launched with attractive tariff plans such as Plan VoIP 200 with a monthly rental Rs 200/- having 400 minutes of SIP-SIP calls free and 10 paisa per minute thereafter.
The service is provided through Analog Telephone adaptor (ATA), which shall be connected to ADSL modem. The refundable security deposit shall be Rs 1000/- and a quarterly rental of Rs 243/- (inclusive of service tax). The lifetime plan is also available for ATA on payment of Rs 1460/- (inclusive of all taxes).
The prepaid cards will be available in the denomination of RS 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 with validity 3 months, 6 months and 12 months respectively with full talk value and available at all MTNL Sachaar haats.
The registration and provisioning will start from September 1 and September 11 respectively. The customer can book VOIP connection by dialing 1500; the 24-hour helpline is 12665 toll free.
About Aksh Optifibre:
Aksh Optifibre, a public listed company, is a large scale manufacturer of cable and optical fiber. It has one of the world’s largest single location manufacturing facilities for Fiber Reinforced Plastic Rods, which goes in to manufacturing Optical Fiber cables. Aksh has a seven years agreement with MTNL to provide IPTV (Broadband content) services to MTNL subscribers in Delhi and Mumbai. Besides, the company is also into large scale next generation network building and is currently implementing a statewide fiber optic network in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
About MTNL:
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) provides total telecommunications services in Delhi and Mumbai, India. The company offers landline services, mobile and fixed- wireless services based on CDMA technology, in addition to Internet access services and broadband services. The government of India has a 56.25% equity stake in the company. MTNL is one of the few companies in India listed on the New York stock exchange.
Recently, the company has entered into a seven year agreement with MTNL to provide IPTV (Broadband content) services in Delhi and Mumbai. IPTV is a direct substitute for Television content which has to be currently accessed through cable networks or DTH services, with better quality of reception and games, video calling, e-learning etc.
Aksh Optifibre is the content provider in the Ash – MTNL IPTV service. The service has been commercialized in Delhi early in July 2007.
The company also concluded an FCCB issue of US $ 8.75 million to fund its organic growth in Optical Fibre and cable business and to fund its entry into VoIP and Broadband Content services.