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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Aug. 18 Soon you will be able to make telephone calls anywhere in the country using an Internet connection. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday made a recommendation to permit unrestricted Net telephony to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), without imposing any additional entry fee or licence charges on the operators.

Consumers can avail Net telephony services by using any device with which one can access the Internet. It may be a PC or a laptop with a headset, a Web-enabled mobile phone such as smart phones or one with GPRS or 3G connectivity.

To make the call, subscribers will have to buy a Net phone package from any of the ISPs and download a dialler software on the device. With this software, consumers will be able to call other Net phone subscribers, a cellular phone user or a fixed line telephone user anywhere in the country.

If one does not want to invest in buying a PC or an Internet-enabled mobile phone, one can also use an Internet Protocol-(IP) based device, available for about Rs 800 or even a normal fixed line telephone to make calls over the Internet.

In this case too, subscribers will have to buy a pre-paid Net telephony card which works just like the long distance calling cards currently available in the market. At present, ISPs are allowed to offer voice calls over the Internet only for international long distance calls and PC-to-PC calls within the country. While existing integrated players such as Bharti Airtel, BSNL and Reliance Communication are allowed to offer unrestricted Net telephony within the country, they have not yet launched their service, probably for fear of losing their traditional voice business on their normal fixed line and cellular network.

TRAI’s suggestion means that over 300 Internet companies such as Sify, Tulip Telecom and Net4India could hope to be able to offer consumers both STD and local calls at much cheaper rates than what the telecom operators are offering.

A BPO company will be able to use Net phones for making calls, resulting in huge savings. However, the regulator’s proposal will have to be ratified by the Department of Telecom.

More Stories on : ISPs | Telecommunications | Regulatory Bodies & Rulings

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