CHENNAI: Chennai-based Deltagram, the network enabled service provider, will
be launching HALLO, a voice messaging service by the second quarter of next
year. This product is the first of its kind in India that enables voice
messaging, phone-to-phone and phone-to-email service.
HALLO enables message communication in the user's own voice to any telephone
number anywhere in India within 15 minutes or to anywhere in the world through a
pre-registered email account. The company is in the process of setting up a
unique nationwide network of voice mail centers across the country.
R Kothandaraman, managing director of Deltagram who termed HALLO as a common
man’s product said, "From being a mere messaging service organization, we
have come a long way. Today Deltagram's communication product portfolio
comprises innovative messaging solutions, HALLO being the latest addition. HALLO
enables one to send messages in one's own voice without having to spend on long
distance telephone bill. The service will be through pay and use membership card
made available to public in all the major retail outlets across the country,
which will make the service more accessible."
Every HALLO card comes with a unique pin number and a local Deltagram
telephone number. The user can call up the local telephone number and dictate
his message, which will be recorded by Deltagram's Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
software. The service will be available through prepaid cards at a price of Rs 6
(one minute) for one way messaging and Rs 10 if a reply message is required.
According to Kothandaraman, HALLO overcomes the three lacunae of electronic
mail. "For the electronic mailing, the sender and the receiver should be
accessible to the computer. But in India the computer penetration is abysmally
low. Secondly, with English being the language of communication in emailing, a
large population is out of it. In emailing the sender is not prompted whether
the receiver opens the message or not," he said. The company is talking
with various PCOs to join it as franchisees with an entry fee of Rs 2000.
Deltagram expects to complete its work on appointing distributors for HALLO
throughout India by the second quarter of 2002.
The other communication products from Deltagram are E-Call, E-letter, Deltaa-Fax
and TeleMail.