BSNL adds Marathi, Hindi

Mumbai, Mar 10 (UNI) BSNL, India's largest telecom operator in partnership with OnMobile, the pioneering telecom Value Added Services (VAS) leader, has launched a suite of Marathi, Hindi and English based value-added services, on the voice platform, for its Maharashtra CellOne and Landline subscribers.

''This is the first time in Maharashtra that landline users can 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 Mr Kuldeep Goyal, CGM, BSNL, Maharashtra.

Using a single number 12555 to dial, any mobile or landline user of BSNL can access and interact with the service by speaking in his or her natural language; English, Hindi or Regional, hear responses on their BSNL handsets, and continue interacting with the system in a user-friendly, interactive manner. Users will be charged Rs1.20 per 30 sec for landline and Rs 5 per minute for mobile.

CEO of OnMobile Arvind Rao said, ''We at OnMobile 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.'' Mr Goyal added, ''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.'' ''Utility based services and M-Commerce applications like railway ticketing, movie ticketing, airline ticketing are also expected to be added the offerings mix for BSNL subscribers in Maharashtra in the near future," he said.

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