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Indigenous Internet telephony

Kiran Kulkarni, MD, Geodesic Limited.

CHENNAI: Indigenous innovations in technology are on the increase in India. The latest to hit the commercial market, probably, Spokn, launched by Geodesic, apparently frees Internet telephony from the computer and gives users the benefit of “inexpensive” Internet calling rates on a wide variety of devices — mobile phones, smart phones and landlines, in addition to computer, says Kiran Kulkarni, co-founder and managing director of Geodesic Limited.

How does Spokn work? Is it different from other Internet telephony services?

Kulkarni: It allows subscribers to make and receive voice calls, send and receive VMS (short voice messages) and take phone numbers of various countries. With Spokn, Internet telephony works with regular telephone for free. Calls from regular phones can be made by dialling a local access line, (available in over 40 countries) and there will be no charges for receiving the calls. Similarly, if the receiver is online, the dialler on the receiver’s computer rings or leaves a VMS, which is delivered in email for free.

A call to the U.S. and Canada costs just one cent a minute, and to India two cents. There are no connection fees, termination charges or minimum charges on calls. A user pays only for use. Users can send VMS to anyone via phone or email. With Spokn, one has the choice of using multiple devices such as cellphones, computers or landlines. Today the user can get connected with eight countries. While VoIP services have been around for long, Geodesic has decided to look at how much more affordable international calling can get, with indigenous technology.

How much of indigenous technology has gone into the product?

Spokn: user-friendly

Kulkarni: The entire technology has been developed indigenously and we have used open standards platforms. Spokn supports SIP (Session Initiation Portocol). The dialler can use his seven-digit ID and password with “spokn.com” as the SIP server name to log in. To use this, one has to recharge the account from www.spokn.com to make calls across eight countries. To make calls, a dialler can dial from the local access line number, available on the Spokn website.

Who are the targeted customers?

Kulkarni: With Spokn, Geodesic is largely targeting families settled abroad, enterprises and international travellers, by offering low-cost international calls.

How do you view your competitors in the VoIP segment?

Kulkarni: Skype, Truefoon, mobiworks, Vonage are a few of our competitors. However, when we compare Spokn with Skype, the fundamental difference is that Skype is a nice and easy-to-use Internet application, while Spokn is a more reliable telephone service that can be accessed from anywhere through Internet, mobile or landline. Spokn’s diallers are available for all windows mobile phones. It also has a configuration utility for Nokia phones and a special application that enables callback service on BlackBerry phones.

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