NEW DELHI: Tata Indicom has become the first mobile operator in the country to launch push-to-talk (PTT) services in India. Launched initially as a free try-and-buy service for corporate in Bangalore, the service will soon be made available for the mass usage.

PTT is a Walkie-Talkie or 2-way Radio type service that provides simple communication with the touch of a button. A push-to-talk capable handset and subscription to PTT services is required for both the originating and terminating parties. PTT also enables person-to-person and person-to-group communication between users at the ‘push of a button’.

Built on Qualcomm’s BrewChat technology, Tata Indicom’s service has been specially designed for CDMA200 1X networks and will go live, for the first time ever in the world on the Tata Indicom network. The solution enables quick ‘push-to-chat’ functionality on 3G CDMA wireless devices and networks.

The BrewChat client software is written as an application for Qualcomm’s Brew solution and offers dynamic, over-the-air upgrades of handset software, management of group membership by subscribers and ad-hoc creation of chat groups. The service will be available across all talk plans on a new PTT enabled Kyocera handset. Qualcomm Incorporated is the pioneer and world leader of code division multiple access (CDMA) digital wireless technology.

The solution offers Tata Teleservices superior call set-up performance, bandwidth savings and is designed to seamlessly upgrade to and inter-operate with the technology, which operates on CDMA2000 1X Release A networks and provides even faster performance capabilities.

Push-to-talk addresses the critical communication needs of businesses—large and small, sales teams, professionals and government departments like police and fire brigade without being confined to a location. It enhances productivity and efficiency, saving time and money in the process. Internationally, PTT is also a rage amongst the youth, which use it to instantly communicate with their friends.

Tata Teleservices President (Telecom) Amit Bose said, "We believe that push-to-talk is an important step in India’s mobile telephony industry. The customer now has a unique service that provides instant connectivity and also has significant cost benefits."

The Benefits
Instant Connectivity: PTT helps instantly connects with co-workers, family and friends within seconds.
Easy to Use: Just push a button and speak with a group of users simultaneously.
Real time user availability status: Display will indicate if others in the user group are available or not. This will help the users to see whether the recipient(s) is/are available before initiating the call.
PTT Alerts: To ensure privacy and mobile etiquette, one can even send a PTT alert to the recipient before establishing a PTT call.
Enables Multi-tasking: Recipients need not ‘answer’ the call, thus can attend to other tasks while listening to the group chat. Ideal in business applications like, taxi services, hospitals and utilities.
Time Savings: PTT helps spend less time talking and more time taking care of business since it facilitates group calling.
Security: As the calls run over a secured network, a customer gets an incredibly clear secure link between a communicator and listener. PTT allows corporate to establish a digitally secured communications for Group Calling to manage their business and share confidential information.

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