Unique VoiceSMS offer from Tata Indicom

No ‘star’ needed—just Select the number, Speak and Send

New application enables subscribers to send VoiceSMS using contact numbers from Phonebook in a Simple, Easy, Personal & Reliable manner.

• No need to remember & key-in numbers—Your contacts/Phonebook option brings in ease—as easy as sending a Text SMS
• Automatically alerts subscribers about incoming VoiceSMS
• Thrilling new service made possible by tie-ups with world leaders Kirusa & Qualcomm

New Delhi, 5 January 2009: Taking the first-mover position in the fast-exploding VoiceSMS space, Tata Teleservices Limited, the youngest and fastest-growing telecom service provider in the country, today unveiled its unique VoiceSMS offer. The exciting new service, powered by partnerships with world leaders Kirusa and Qualcomm, will allow all Tata Indicom subscribers nationwide to send VoiceSMS’ directly from their stored contacts in the phonebook, cutting out the need to remember any number and key in complicated numbers prefixed by a star. Therefore, no star (asterisk) is needed. Just select the number to which you wish to send the VoiceSMS, select the VoiceSMS option, speak and send the message.

The procedure is similar to sending a Text SMS, except that subscribers won’t need to type in the text of SMS but speak in your own voice. It’s simple, intimate and personal. Listening to a VoiceSMS has also been made very easy, so that even users who cannot read SMS messages can listen to the VoiceSMS.

The new VoiceSMS offer will enable Tata Indicom’s pre-paid and post-paid subscribers to send voice messages to any Tata mobile, landline, Walky or any other network’s mobile number in India. This enhanced VoiceSMS feature has been made available with technology expertise from Qualcomm and Kirusa. Kirusa is the world leader in VoiceSMS and a leading developer of mobile value-added services.

Commenting on this new service, Mr Pankaj Sethi, President (Corporate Services), Tata Teleservices Limited, said: “We are the first telecom operator in the world to offer VoiceSMS on the BREW platform that facilitates sending VoiceSMS’ directly from the stored contacts in the phonebook. Even in the concept stage, our target was clear—that we would make it easy to send VoiceSMS’ without having to remember and type in phone numbers. Our BREW application and the * (star) dialing option for non-BREW handsets will provide users ease of use, simplicity, personalization and utmost reliability.”

“This launch is part of our strategy to provide Next-Gen value-added services to subscribers in both the pre-paid and post-paid segments. By introducing this service, we have extended a user-friendly and cost-effective mode of communication to our customers so that they can communicate with their loved ones with ease,” Mr Sethi added.

On the choice of Kirusa as the technology partner for this service, Mr Sethi added: “We chose Kirusa because of its proven ability to implement and deploy the VoiceSMS feature on our network. I am confident that this service will see a huge uptake and also considerably increase ARPUs.”

To send a VoiceSMS to any mobile number, Tata subscribers will have to select the VoiceSMS option and than select the contact from their phonebook. Users will then be taken to an IVR, wherein subscribers can record their VoiceSMS. The maximum length of any VoiceSMS will be 30 seconds. When a subscriber with a BREW phone receives a VoiceSMS, the application automatically gives an alert on the screen. The customer needs to just click the ‘Listen’ option to hear the recorded message. So simple and easy!

Tata Indicom users who do not have the BREW application, will receive a text SMS notification —‘New VoiceSMS Received’. The received message will display the sender’s number or name from the phonebook. Tata Subscribers can dial *30 for listening to new VoiceSMS and *31 for listening to old VoiceSMS.

This way, it works very conveniently for BREW users, and still works as well for other phones and for friends in other networks.

Tata Indicom Mobile and Walky subscribers can reply to and forward their VoiceSMS to others while listening to the VoiceSMS. A maximum of 20 incoming VoiceSMS can be stored by Tata Indicom Mobile and Walky subscribers.

To top it all, the new exciting service comes coupled with an attractive tariff plan—with each sent Voice SMS message being chargeable at Rs 0.80 only. Also, Tata subscribers will be able to listen to a new incoming VoiceSMS at no cost. Listening to any old VoiceSMS will cost only Rs. 0.30 per message. The BREW application is available free of charge. Non-Tata Indicom users pay normal call charges to listen to a VoiceSMS, as levied by their carrier networks.

To implement the VoiceSMS solution, Kirusa has integrated its VoiceSMS platform, with the Dialogic Vision Server, and Qualcomm’s BREW technology, into the Tata Telecom network.

“Qualcomm is pleased to join Tata Teleservices and Kirusa to introduce this unique and innovative VoiceSMS service in India, with its ease of use and reliability,” said Mr Michal Koenig, Senior Director (Product Management), Qualcomm Corporate Engineering Services Group. “Tata Teleservices is the first operator globally to deploy the BREW-based VoiceSMS service, which is designed to enhance simplicity and personalization for consumers through a menu-driven interface. We are excited to work with Tata Teleservices in bringing such differentiated services to the dynamically evolving Indian market.”

Mr Taranjit Singh Batra, Vice-President (Sales), Kirusa, said: “We are confident that Tata Indicom subscribers will find VoiceSMS a charming and convenient way to convey emotion and to send their messages. Our partnership with TTSL and Qualcomm has helped us extend our leading VoiceSMS solution, already selected by over 30 carriers around the world, into an unmatched offering for all BREW carriers worldwide.” 

How to send a VoiceSMS:

Through the BREW Application

• Subscribers will have to download the application from a BREW catalogue (application is available free of charge, and has to be downloaded only once) 
• The application gives an option to select contacts from the phone book; user only needs to press the send button
• The call will land on VoiceSMS platform, where he will be guided by an IVR
• After recording the message, subscriber can replay/delete & re-record/schedule/cancel the VoiceSMS, if they wish to do so.

Without the BREW Application

• Subscriber dials * followed by the recipient’s number and is routed to an IVR
• Call will land on the VoiceSMS platform, where the subscriber will be guided by an IVR
• After recording the message, subscriber can replay/delete & re-record/ schedule/ cancel the VoiceSMS, if they wish to do so

How to listen to a VoiceSMS:

Through the BREW Application (Tata subscribers)

• Subscriber gets a pop-up alert; “You have a new VoiceSMS from…..”
• Select ‘Listen’ to directly listen to the VoiceSMS

Without the BREW Application (Tata subscribers)

• Subscribers receive a text SMS notification; “New VoiceSMS received from……”
• Dial *30 for listening to new VoiceSMS 3. Dial *31 for listening to old VoiceSMS 

Without the BREW Application (non-Tata subscribers)

• Non Tata mobile users receive a text SMS notification; “New VoiceSMS received from……”
• Dial a ‘DirectListen’ number embedded in the message to directly listen to the message 

About Tata Teleservices Limited

Tata Teleservices Limited is one of India's leading private telecom service providers, having a pan-India presence. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom brand, and uses the latest technology platform(s) for its wireless network. Tata Teleservices Limited, along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited, operates in more than 7,500 towns across 22 circles—Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Kolkata, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, RoWB, Assam, North Eastern States and Jammu & Kashmir. Tata Indicom has a customer base of nearly 32 million.

For more information, log on to www.tataindicom.com

About Kirusa

Kirusa is one of the leading global developers of Mobile Social Media and Value Added Services enabling mobile subscribers to reach out to their family and friends. Kirusa’s solutions include the hugely successful Kirusa Voice SMS service, the world’s most advanced Voice SMS solution, used by over 30 carriers around the world. Kirusa has pioneered a suite of social media applications that facilitate mobile subscribers to interact through voice, including the Call-n-Tweet application which helps users update their Twitter status using voice. Kirusa provides an open platform with APIs to enable third parties to offer mobile applications services to mobile subscribers. Used by mobile subscribers millions of times daily, Kirusa solutions are built on its patented and patent pending technology and its highly reliable and scalable open multimodal platform. Kirusa has been recognized as one of top 100 technology companies by Silicon India, and one of top 25 emerging technology companies by Smart Techie magazine. Headquartered in New Jersey and led by an experienced team of wireless telecom executives and technologists, Kirusa has offices in three continents. ‘Kirusa Voice SMS,’ is a trademark of Kirusa, Inc.

For more information visit: www.kirusa.com.

Media Contacts

Tata Teleservices Limited
Shefali Jhaveri
+91 9223542427
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Vaishnavi Corporate Communications
Atul Dwivedi
+91 9212743191
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Kirusa
Navneet Anand
GreyMatters Communications
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