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BOMBAY, 8 April — For non-resident Indians (NRIs) calling
up home has always been a major drain on the purse. Hearing the voice of
ones loved ones and knowing their well being is what keeps most of the
NRIs going. And now there is good news. Starting from April 1, 2002,
Internet telephony was legalized. Well, mostly everyone spoke to loved
ones at home over the Net despite it being illegal but now, it is finally
legalized. So probably, this will make the service better and the voice
transmission will be clearer with lesser lags.
Internet Service Providers or ISPs as they are popularly
known will be allowed to provide Internet telephony without paying an
additional license fee. Before we go ahead, it is imperative to get the
basic facts right. Internet telephony means a subscriber of an Internet
service can use his PC for making long distance calls. One must have
either a PC or a IP-based phone for using Internet telephony.
The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has also allowed
the existing service providers of basic, National Long Distance, and
cellular mobile services to use VOIP for backbone networks. The scope of
services includes connection between: PC to PC (both within country as
well as abroad), PC to Phone (PC in India, phone abroad) and IP based
terminals (both India and abroad).
So how does the Internet telephony actually work? First
there is the computer-to-computer which is the easiest and most popular
way of using Internet telephony where one does even have to pay for
long-distance calls. There are several websites which offer free or very
low-cost software for you to download.
An example of this software is MSN Explorer. Then there is
computer-to-telephone, where you can call anyone with a phone from your
computer, but this service is not allowed in India. There is
telephone-to-computer where the ISPs provide special numbers or calling
cards that allow a standard telephone user to call a computer user. This
device connects your telephone to the Internet. There are several such
devices available abroad like YapJack, Aplio/Phone and I-Phone. These
devices are priced between Rs.6,000-Rs.14,000, depending upon the features
which include answering machines features also. With the opening up of Net
telephony, these devices will soon be available at your most of the
notified shops in India.
For this your telephone back home needs to be IP-enabled,
so you need either a YapJack or an Aplio/Phone. You also need to subscribe
to an ISP, which will give you a dedicated number to dial from your phone.
This will link you to their servers, and the call will get
through onto the Internet and the destination telephone. Internet
telephony is being treated as a value added application provided by the
ISPs.
Therefore, the regular tariffs will not be applicable on
Internet telephony. Currently, an ISD call to the US from India costs
around Rs.40 per minute. A PC-to-phone call to the US costs around Rs.10
per minute, and is still four times cheaper. For ISPs eager to kick off
their Internet telephony ventures, the immediate costs will come from
their need to buy additional bandwidth.
Those who have been using the Net to talk home would
already be familiar with names such as BuddyPhone, MediaRing, Innosphere,
Deltathree, Dialpad and Net2Phone. Now there is talk that these
international ISPs will in all likelihood tie-up with the domestic ISPs.
And the domestic players are getting ready to lure the consumers with
their attractively prices services.
Most of these are expected to hit the market around
mid-April, either in the form of pre-paid calling cards or post-paid
subscription fee-driven packages in cyber cafes. ISPs like Data Access,
Sify and Net4India plan to introduce pre- and post-paid cards, which will
give consumers a sort of pin number. Consumers will need to enter that
number on the Net in order to make international calls.
Another model is that whereby ISPs which have portals of
their own could offer Internet telephony with a subscription fee to the
consumer who register with the portal. Finally, there’s the possibility of
bundling Net telephony with dial-up web access packs that are commonly
sold by ISPs over the counter packages are expected to be in denominations
of Rs.100 going up to Rs.5,000.
Chennai-based DishnetDSL plans to use its 130 cyber cafes
and will offer both the pre-paid and post-paid options. Caltiger, is also
stated to be in the final stages of sealing an agreement with US-based
Internet telephony major Net2Phone. Caltiger plans to launch services with
pre-paid cards in denominations of Rs.500 up to Rs.5,000 and overseas
calls to most countries will be around Rs.5 per minute.
Satyam Infoway, the country’s second largest ISP by
subscriber base is expected to follow Dishnet. Net4India, a Delhi-based
ISP, has already announced a tie-up with Deltathree, a US Internet
telephony company. Net4India’s service will be restricted to PC users and
the ISP’s new website ‘phonewala.com’ is currently offering 5,000 free
calling cards as an introductory offer in denominations of Rs.25, Rs.50
and Rs.100.
Naturally, the biggest issue which will decide the success
or failure of the Internet telephony would be the pricing. Most of the
ISPs are currently looking at offering services within the Rs.5-Rs.7 per
minute range. And industry analysts say that it will take quite some time
before the price comes down to the promised Rs.5 per minute. Currently,
like the dotcom bug, there are too many ISPs chasing one piece of the
pie. | 
Will Net phone bring price down?