Ringo awaits interconnection points from telcos to launch service

The calling app company, Ringo, on Thursday said its attempt to launch internet telephony in the country has hit a stumbling block as it has not received point of interconnections from various telecom operators.

"Ringo (through its group company VMobi) has obtained the technology and licences for the service over six months ago, but various telecom operators, including Vodafone, Airtel and Idea, have not been providing interconnections to VMobi that are critical for Ringo to launch its services," the company said in a statement here.

The calling app company offers International and domestic calling services in 180 countries.

"Ringo has acquired all the required licences under its company VMobi Solutions Pvt Ltd. VMobi has Access licences for the Mumbai circle with other circles in the pipeline, National Long Distance Operator, and International Long Distance Operator under the recent Unified Licence since February 2016 from the Department of Telecom (DoT).

"This licence allows VMobi to provide voice services to its customers across the country. However, telecom providers have made attempts to derail the launch of Internet Telephony by refusing to provide VMobi with a fair, non-discriminatory interconnection agreement," the statement said.

"Internet telephony is the way forward for voice services. However, in spite of having been permitted since 2008, the Indian consumer has not been able to enjoy the benefits of Internet Telephony because Telecom players like Vodafone, Airtel and Idea have neither launched Internet Telephony, nor permitted other operators to launch the same," said Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and CEO, Ringo.

"By failing to provide us with a non-discriminatory Interconnection agreement, or with the mandatory points of interconnect, these companies are making it incredibly difficult for us to do business and for the Indian consumer to ever experience a truly digital India, where low cost calling and innovations like HD (high definition) voice and simultaneous data transmission through Internet Telephony is a reality," he said.

"TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has been patient and progressive and we strongly believe that they will do the right thing for the progress of Internet Telephony in India," said Turakhia.

--IANS

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