India Telecom

April 2, 2003
Tata Teleservices launches voice mail facility

NEW DELHI -- Tata Teleservices Ltd. (TTSL), the leading national private basic telecom services operator, recently launched its voice mail service (VMS). The service would enable TTSL customers across all its six circles -- Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra -- to access voice messages left by a caller, in case a customer is not able to take his calls.

The message alert architecture in-built with the VMS facility makes it unique. The feature in case of a Tata Indicom CDMA mobile or a fixed wireless phone, functions by sending an SMS alert or by making a system call to the subscriber informing him about the new message. The sent alert informs the VMS user on three accounts, i.e., type of message received, time of receipt and even the sender (if CLIP is activated). However, the alert is via a message waiting indication or a system dial out in case of a Tata Indicom landline subscriber.

The VMS mailbox has a full load capacity of 10 minutes and the maximum length of a single message left by a caller is of 60 seconds. The VMS facility has an auto delete feature as well. Users can save or delete messages as per their requirements. The VMS facility has a nominal monthly rental of Rs. 25. Tata Teleservices is already providing its customers with a set of call management services, including caller line identification (CLIP), call waiting and call forwarding.

Launching the service, S. Ramakrishnan, managing director, TTSL, said: "The VMS facility is yet another indication of TTSL's effort to provide its customers with value-added services that are not just bells and whistles, but actually add real value in their telephony experience."

When quizzed on TTSL's focus on VAS, he added: "Tata Teleservices has configured all of its six circle networks to launch SMS. Being a law abiding Tata Group company, we are just awaiting a go ahead from TRAI on this. When TTSL's launches its full scale of value-added services, we would target close to 7 percent of our revenue from VAS over the next three years, as is the case internationally."