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'India is a key market for voice SMS'

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VoicenData Bureau
New Update

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Voice SMS is a craze in developing nations and non-English

speaking countries. What are the prime reasons for the substantial growth in

these markets?



Mobile penetration and awareness about the usage of sophisticated phones in
emerging markets are low as compared to developed countries. Traditionally, a

large section of people in emerging markets reside in rural areas, and a

majority of them prefer to use a simple tool to send an SMS. They prefer not to

type to send an SMS. In this occasion, voice SMS can play a lead role in

communicating their messages.

You have launched the services in several countries. What are

the present focus areas?



Our thrust will be on markets in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe,
South America and Asia.

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Though Kirusa is one of the leaders in the voice SMS business,

the success of voice SMS will depend on the marketing strategies of cellular

operators. How do they position the services?



While sending an SMS through voice, a customer can send a message reflecting
the person's emotions. In the case of a text messages, this (emotions) is not

possible. On top of this, the price is reasonable as compared to text messages,

though voice SMS is a special value added service for telecom service providers.

Our partners-service providers-have started adding customers with voice SMS

services across the world. Recently, mobile operators in Bangladesh and Pakistan

ran free voice SMS campaigns during festival seasons. In Bangladesh, the

operators offered 20 calls a day during the Id festival.

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You have been operating in India as well. How has been the

response from Indian cellular operators and customers?



India is a key market for us. In India, mobile operators like Bharti, BPL (Mumbai
circle), Aircell (Chennai circle), Idea, MTNL, Reliance (CDMA services), have

already launched voice SMS services. Companies like Hutch, Reliance (GSM

services) may follow suit soon. Indian customers, especially in rural belts,

started experiencing the services and the volume would enhance over a period of

time. In India, operators have priced the services reasonably at 75 paise to Re

1, while their text SMS is priced at round 55 paise. The state-run MTNL was the

first telecom company in the world to launch voice SMS on fixed line.

Indian operators and customers are too sensitive to new services

and prices. What is your business model?



We operate through revenue sharing model and complete sales model. Since
revenue sharing model is there, it will not affect the operators' bottomline

in the initial phase of the launch even in the case of a slow take off.

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What are the main applications that can run on the voice message

platforms?



Kirusa offers a platform. The platform used by Kirusa has the ability to manage
and synchronize data and voice interactions, while its integration with IMS and

30 other standards enable operators to cost effectively deploy additional

revenue generating services. It seamlessly combines graphics; text and audio

output with speech, text and touch input to deliver quality services. Through

multi-modality, people can speak, type or use a PDA stylus on a touch screen

(input stage) or hear, read text or look at graphics when receiving information

(output stage). This gives users the freedom to choose how they want to interact

with a service at each step in the process. In this way, services are more

convenient and easier to use-something people need in their fast paced,

everyday life.

Baburajan K



The author was hosted in Brisbane (Australia)



baburajank@cybermedia.co.in

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