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Now ringtones, prayers on BSNL phones

March 10, 2006 16:36 IST

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, in partnership with OnMobile, a leading telecom value-added services provider, has launched a suite of Marathi, Hindi and English-based services on the voice platform for its Maharashtra CellOne and landline subscribers.

"This is the first time in Maharashtra that landline users can also take advantage of the value-added services like ring tones, prayers, cricket commentary, songs, news and more over in addition to mobile users. We will be working with OnMobile to continually increase and improve the services available for our subscribers" said Kuldeep Goyal, CGM, BSNL, Maharashtra, in a media statement on Friday.

Using a single number 12555 to dial, any mobile or landline user of BSNL can access and interact with the service by speaking in English, Hindi or the regional language, hear the responses on their BSNL handsets, and continue interacting with the system in a user-friendly, interactive manner.

Users will be charged Rs.1.20 per 30 seconds for landline and Rs 5 per minute for mobile.

Arvind Rao, CEO, OnMobile, said in the statement: "We are committed to improving the usage experience of all telecom subscribers in their natural language with our innovative voice enabled services platform. The services offered to BSNL subscribers are already being tried and tested by multiple operators across the country, and today BSNL Maharashtra adds to our customer base of more than 25mn users across India."

"Additionally, the multimodal call back number of the service 12555XX allows users to reach the desired service without going through main menu navigation. This feature will help in increased uptake of the service as regular users will be able to reach the desired application directly," Goyal added.

The current services available to customers include:

Ringtone downloads: Users will be able to listen and preview songs and select the ones they want as a ringtone. The ringtone will be delivered via SMS.

Prayers: The application provides devotional content for religious prayers.

Dial-a-song: A juke box where users can call-in and listen to songs. Users can select a song and dedicate it to their friends and family members. The system will send an SMS alert to the receiver requesting him to call back and listen to the dedicated message and song.

Cricket scores: Live ball-by-ball update of One-Day International and Test matches. Users will get expert opinion and streaming of live commentary if available. Users can get regular updates during cricket matches in the form of SMS alerts at important stages of a match.

Jokes: Users can listen to jokes updated daily; and can also listen to more jokes by browsing.

Contests: Exciting contests like the Ravan Vadh contest, New Year Dhamaal Contest & presently running the 'Khelo Contest, Chaandi Jeeto' contest with a grand prize of 1 kilo silver being offered to the subscribers. Questions on general aptitude, news, sports, politics keep the subscriber surely interested in the contest.

Movie zone: Latest movie songs, interview clips, trivia & all make this portal a sure winner.

Star specials: Amitabh Special, Shah Rukh Special or Aishwarya Special and more on matinee idols along with their hit songs and ringtones.