How about an SMS that has all the emotions of a voice call, not to mention the convenience of a normal text message? Well, it's for real. Welcome to the age of voice SMS or talking SMS, a new value-added service that is being offered in the country by both CDMA and GSM operators, starting this April.

A talking SMS enables the user to record his or her voice and send it across like a simple text message, and the user can retrieve it at his leisure. Sending a voice SMS is as simple as sending a text message. The only difference is that instead of keying in the text, the subscriber would have to record his message and forward it.

The service is similar to a voice mail and can be retrieved by dialing a designated number. But unlike a voice mail, the message would be short (of around 20-30 seconds) and is treated as an SMS. This means it is not metered, like a voice call or mail. The service is expected to be a hit, as the charges are on par with that of an SMS.

The operator would install the technology and equipment for the service at his end, resulting in no additional cost to the user.

A relatively new service to hit Indian shores, voice SMS was first introduced in the country by GSM service provider Aircel late last year. But it did not gather momentum as expected, perhaps due to the lack of strong marketing initiatives.

Reliance launched it early this year, Bharti Airtel followed suit, MTNL introduced the services in Delhi in February and BPL Mumbai announced it in March. Idea was also planning to launch the service, and is believed to be negotiating for the software.

Sumit Modi, a telecom analyst, Emkay Shares, says voice SMS is at a nascent stage in India, and companies are looking at this as another of their bouquet of services.

"It will take some time before the service becomes a revenue," he said. The revenues from SMS would be around 5-6 per cent of total revenues of an operator, and leading GSM provider Bharti Airtel might be recording 20-25 SMSes per user, says Modi.

Service providers who have already rolled out the service are levying Re 1 per voice SMS. But the infrastructure support needed for this service is much higher than that of an SMS, and operators expect their money through the sheer volume of usage.

For example, a sender would have to pay Re 1 for a talking SMS, and while the recipient would be free to retrieve it the first time, for repeated listening he would have to pay a fee, that increases with the number of retrievals.

Pressmart, a web services company, is taking this technology a bit further. The company has developed a suite that will send news clipping as talking messages to the subscriber. According to the company CEO, Sanjeev Gupta, voice news can be received on cellphones, PDAs or other handheld devices.