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Sify to offer Net telephony at Rs 8/min

Bipin Chandran & Anjan Mitra

Satyam Infoway, the Nasdaq-listed Internet service provider, will offer Internet telephony service at about Rs 8 per minute for calls to the US.

The cost advantage against the prevalent charges of about Rs 40 per minute charged by the normal telephone companies becomes apparent.

A company sources said the company had submitted its detailed tariff plan to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

The company will utilise its network of 700 cyber cafes, operated under the brand iWays, to tap consumers. The source said special booths would be set up in the cyber cafes for this purpose.

Besides, for the customers who wish to avail of the service from home, a special dial-up software will be given. "To tap the dial-up Internet customers and those who want to avail of the service from home, we will provide dialers," the source said.

On revenue projection from Internet telephony business, the source said, "We expect the Net telephony to be a major contributor to our revenues, especially in long-term when all the convergence-related services are sold together. However, we need to see the reactions from the customers before making revenue projections."

The company is also looking at introducing a plain voice-based service, initially, and would offer other value-added services later.

"Plain voice-based service will not be the prime revenue earner. We will offer various value-added services to ensure that the customers stay with us," the source said.

The source added that the company was currently piloting the Net telephony service and would roll it out in a phased manner. "The trial-run has started and we will start rolling out once the tariffs are finalised," the source said.

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