Icenet launches broadband Net telephony

Icenet, a private internet service provider, has launched IcePhone, a broadband internet telephony service.

It is a device-based internet telephony service in which one does not require a computer to make international calls, the company said.

The launch of IcePhone is expected to open up the sector to a larger number of people, the company said.

Icenet is the first internet service provider to launch broadband internet telephony, which, until now is being offered in an unorganised way by small entrepreneurs, the company said.

Icenet has also reduced the rates for broadband internet telephony.

The device required is a digital telephone operator, which costs Rs 10,000, is easily available and currently being manufactured by Cisco, Motorola and Quintum, among others, the company said.

Speaking about the new product, Chirag Mehta, chief executive officer and managing director of Icenet, said, "Broadband internet telephony is the next phase of internet telephony. The first phase was about pre-paid cards that needed to be hooked on to a PC. But this is the second generation, where a computer is not required at all."

Icenet will offer IcePhone to customers in two plans.

Under the first plan, the Per Minute plan, the rate for calls to the US, Canada and the UK will be Re 1 per minute.

In the second plan, customers can make unlimited calls to the US, Canada and the UK for Rs 5,000 per month.

"Device-based internet telephony will usher in a revolution in the sector," Mehta said.

The company will consolidate its position further as it is the leader in the pre-paid internet telephony cards with the brand name IceTel, Mehta said.

"Our brand IceTel is already the largest selling card in India. Now we have gone one step further and brought internet telephony to a level where it will be affordable to the masses," he said.

Pre-paid cards of IceTel have been generating traffic of over five lakh minutes per month. With the introduction of IcePhone, the traffic will be doubled to over one million minutes per month, the Icenet chief executive officer said.

"We expect revenues to grow by at least 25 per cent with the introduction of IcePhone," Chirag Mehta said. Icenet has a customer base of over 35,000 IceTel users spread across Gujarat and the company expects many Icetel users to switch to IcePhone.