April 1st 2002 would be a much awaited day for the
Convergent Society watchers in India. For the first time now, the convergence
of Internet and Telephony would be given legal blessings with the
introduction of Internet Telephony.
While PC to PC solutions would enable internet users to
talk to other online users without any additional cost, the PC to Phone
solutions will come with a price tag. The PC to PC solutions however require
mutually compatible software to be installed in both Computers. If the two
Computers use different OS platforms, the software should be cross platform
compatible. This service would be available both within India and India to
Other countries.
On the other hand, PC to Telephone requires the service
provider to provide the switch to the basic telephony operator. The
current ISP s are expected to get into this service as an extension of their
ISP activities. Presently only PC to phones in other countries would be
permitted and long distance internal calls would not be within the purview of
the license.
Net4India has been the first ISP off the block and
has already announced the scheme for the PC to Phone long distance calling. It
is estimated that the calls to US from India would now cost around Rs 7 per
minute. While one has to wait and see the quality of the calls, and the effect
of low band width on the voice quality etc, it is clear that the days of
Internet Telephony in India are finally here.
Net4India has already launched its marketing plan, the
scheme for resellers etc and in all probability would launch the service from
the first of April itself.
It is now upto the other ISP s to catch up with this
blazing start of Net4India. The consumers can expect innovative schemes,
introductory promotions and falling costs to make communications convenient
and less expensive.
Let's watch how other ISPs such as VSNL, SIFY and
Dishnet react to the development and counter the first move of Net4India.
Naavi
March 28, 2002
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