Zia Askari
HYDERABAD: Surana Telecom Ltd., a telecom equipment manufacturer, has tied up
with Grand Atlantic to facilitate net telephony within the region and is going
to launch what is stated to be India's first Voice over internet protocol (VoIP)
or Internet telephony service.
Surana netfone, a brand owned by the company's customer premises equipment
division, has tied up with Grand Atlantic for providing technical support.
"We have made an alliance with Grand Atlantic so as to offer an affordable
and reliable VOIP solution for the Indian space. The solution is priced at $ 200
and it would carry voice traffic over the Internet and Intranet without any
transmission delay. "Chandrababu Naidu, chief minister of AP is going to
launch the service within a week's time," said, Narendra Surana, MD at
Surana telecom.
Users of the service need not have a STD or ISD connection. They just need to
be online for the phone to work, allowing them to make national and
international calls. The VOIP is going to cut down the communication costs
substantially.
"We are hoping high for this facility and expect more than 12,000
subscribers for the service within one year of operation. Initially we are going
to have 120 ports, with will accommodate 1,000 subscribers for the service. We
will ramp up the number of ports as the subscriber base increases," he
added.
Surana Telecom, a telecom equipment manufacturer is having a license to
provide Internet services in the state of AP. Since the government has opened up
its policies towards the VOIP, this initiative by the company is seen as a move
to reap the wide range of opportunities opened up in the VOIP space.