The Hindu Business Line : Bharti launches SMS kiosks

The kiosks will be installed in various parts of Bangalore initially and later inother parts of the country, Mr Jagdish Kini, Chief Executive Officer of South Central Region and Director, Mobility, Bharti Mobile Ltd, told newspersons.

Mr Kini said the software for the service was provided by the Bangalore-based Webstar Software Pvt Ltd.

Each of these kiosks cost around Rs 12,000. Nearly 500 such kiosks will be set up in various public places in Bangalore including shopping malls and bus stands.

The Bharti Mobile's Chief Operating Officer for Karnataka, Mr Deepak Malhotra, said the new service enables the customer to send an SMS to any mobile phone in the country at Re 1. The messages can be sent through AirTel ExpresSMS machines. The usage of the machine is similar to that of a coin operated PCO telephone. After sending a message, the customer will receive a confirmation. In case the message is not confirmed, the Re 1 coin will be refunded. For sending an international SMS, the charges will be Rs 3.

The customer can also receive a reply though he does not have to pay for receiving the message. Up to 25 messages can be stored in the inbox at any given point of time.

Bharti has over six lakh subscribers in Karnataka and is expected to finish the fiscal with a total subscriber base to 1 million. The total investment in Karnataka by Bharti by the end of the year would be around Rs 1,000 crore.

Bharti offers mobile services in 15 of the 22 circles in India.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | New Products & Services | Karnataka

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