BSNL to launch video telephony service next month

State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) will introduce voice and video over Broadband (VVoBB) or video telephony services for its broadband customers in north and west zone of India in association with Ahemdabad-based IT solution provider Sai Infosystem (SIS). Though the introductory promotional scheme has been announced by BSNL, the commercial launch will happen in a month.
This BSNL VVoBB service will allow users to talk to as well as see each other. The service will be launched under the BSNL brand name and SIS will be the backend technology provider. Apart from providing the technology, SIS will have the responsibility of selling, installing and maintaining the customer premises equipment.
The services to be launched on the network are voice over internet protocol, video and voice over internet protocol, video mailing service, public call offices, IP centrex services, video conferencing services and calling cards for international calls.
A one-time registration cum activation charge of Rs 100 will be charged for the service and the usage charges will be 40 paise for non-video calling and Rs 2 for a domestic video calls. Data transfer for VVoBB shall not be accounted in normal download charges of broadband for the customer. A promotional tariff for a period of 90 days for the VVoBB services is displayed on the BSNL website.
Speaking to Telecom Yatra, Anil Jain, general manager, marketing, BSNL said, “The services will be launched in next one month.” The revenue accruing from these services will be shared between BSNL and SIS in a proportion defined in the MoU between the two, a statement from SIS Systems says.
Sai Infosytem has a pan-India presence with a turnover of Rs 416 crore. The company has 10 branch offices, over 90 support service centers, one manufacturing unit. SIS has plans to start its operations in Middle East.
The VVoBB service has been available to the enterprise customers from over three months now. These service were available from VPN (virtual private network) to VPN connection for the enterprise users. Moreover, the call could only be made in domestic domain. But now the service will be available to the individual broadband users also. Through this, the BSNL VVoBB subscriber can make international calls also.