Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) on Monday launched Net telephony services in partnership with Sai InfoSystem (India) Ltd.
BSNL's Voice and Video Over Internet Protocol (VVOIP) technology uses the packet switching technology and makes communication possible over the Internet. Voice and video signals are converted into data packets and sent to the destination, where the data packets are again converted back to voice and video, respectively.
With this service, BSNL customers can make audio and video calls on any landline, mobile or IP phone anywhere in the world (except India), as long as both the caller and receiver have video phone equipment. If video phone equipment is available at only one end, then the subscriber can make voice calls.
Within India, a customer can make only IP to IP calls within BSNL network for which subscribers will have to attach an adaptor to their existing landline phone.
The service will cost 40 paise per minute for audio calls and Rs 2 a minute for video calls within the country. International calls charges using VVOIP service will vary, according to the country.
For example, a call to US will cost Rs 1.20 a minute. Calls to a landline phone in the UK will cost Rs 1.20 and Rs 7.20 to a mobile phone. In addition, subscribers have to pay monthly fee of Rs 150.