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Business Standard, 23.11, part 3
Posted by :
comatose
CALL COSTS FOR US/UK
Mobile phone
Vodafone: Calls to US (mobile) Rs11/min and Rs 6.40 (fixed-line); calls to UK cost Rs 10/min
Airtel: Calls to UK (fixed-line) at Rs6.4 / min and Rs 10 to mobile; calls to US at Rs 6.4/min (both fixed-line and mobile)
Reliance GSM: Calls to US & Europe (fixed line) (both fixed-line and mobile) (mobile)
BSNL: Requires security deposit of Rs 2,000;
Calls to US & UK cost Rs 7.20/min
International Calling Cards, Vodafone: A basic Rs 110 card gives a talktime of Rs 99; calls to US cost Rs 4.75/min and to UK cost Rs 4.95/min
Airtel: A basic Rs 55 card gives talktime of Rs 49; calls to US and Canada cost Rs 3.99;
Reliance: Provides an international calling service called Reliance Global Call (prepaid plan) starting at Rs 100; calls to US cost Rs 2.49/min; calls to UK (mobile) cost Rs 11.99 and Rs 3.49 (fixed-line)
VoIP services Spokn: Spokn-to-Spokn free; 0.92 paisa/min (US & UK mobiles & fixed-lines); also allows phone-to- phone calls without internet using access lines and costs Rs 2/min
Sifytalk: Initial costs include Rs 1,599 for device; calls to UK cost Re 1/min (fixed- line) and Rs 7.99 (mobile); calls to US cost Re 1/min (landline & mobile)
Skype: PC-to-PC is free; calls to US & UK (mobile and fixed-line) cost Rs 1.10/min
(#Data collected from company website & customer care centres)
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Business Standard, 23.11, part 2
Posted by : comatose
Do PC calls result in savings?
Until June this year, Indians spent 135 million minutes on internet telephony, according to data from the Internet Service Providers’ Association of India. Most view internet telephony as something that is not only cheap but also practical, like Afshan Ahmed, who manages the day-to-day operations of a Nashik-based NGO for street children.
“We have several NRI benefactors in the US, mainly in New Jersey and Chicago. Calling them on a monthly basis over a mobile phone would have eaten into our paltry funds,” she says. The NGO, on Ahmed’s insistence, moved to using Skype internet telephony. Today, a second-hand laptop, a broadband connection at a monthly rental of Rs 200 and a Skype service for Rs 500 per month allows the NGO to make cheap calls to its donors across the globe. Ahmed claims that this move has saved thousands of rupees for the NGO.
Companies like Geodesic have been quick to grab the opportunity. Kiran Kulkarni, co-founder and managing director of Geodesic, promotes internet telephony products that work without an internet connection.
“Geodesic’s Spokn does not require an internet connection. Users can make domestic and international calls over PC-to-PC, phone-to-phone and PC-to-phone,” he says. The company has also addressed the security protocol issue, which is the Indian government’s biggest concern when it comes to VoIP usage.
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USING VoIP SERVICES
How do you make calls using PC?
Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, is the convention allowing transmission of voice through the internet
What do you get while calling from PC? For PC-to-phone VoIP services, users get features like free PC-to-PC calling, conference calls, voice mail, choice of online phone numbers, call forwarding and reduced long-distance rates, especially for international calls But, as with phone-to-phone VoIP services, call quality is not always perfect
What do you need for making these calls? An internet-connected PC, a pair of earphones/speakers with a microphone If you are making international calls to mobile or wired line phones from India, then most VoIP services require a minimum payment
Any other option ? If both caller and receiver have internet connections, they can use Google Talk, Yahoo, MSN, etc for free video or voice chats
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“We track the number from where the call is originating and the destination number. This data is freely shared with the regulatory authority,” assures Kulkarni. On this count, Skype, the popular internet telephony solution provider for PC-to-PC calls, has run into trouble as it refuses to share encryption codes with Indian security agencies.
Who stands to benefit?
The user can get optimum value for money with VoIP (check box). Calls made to international destinations typically cost between Re 1 and Rs 2 per minute. For instance, Geodesic’s Spokn allows calls to the UK and the US (mobile and landline) at 0.92 paisa per minute. Alok Shende, principal analyst and founder director, Ascentius, says: “International outbound VoIP services in India accounted for a Rs 85-crore revenue in 2008-09. These services comprise close to 15 per cent of the total international outbound voice minutes from India.”
He adds that consumers prefer PC-to-PC VoIP calls. However, internet telephony solutions are different due to their ability to call international phone numbers — wired phone lines or wireless mobile phones.
India’s 50 million odd internet users may not know every detail about the government’s stand on internet telephony services, but they are fast realising the advantage that VoIP services offer.
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Smart Upmove
Posted by : Rumple
shubham27,
you need to be very lucky to get the share below 90....
Business Standard, 23.11, part 1
Posted by : comatose
Computer call: When your PC becomes a phone
(Priyanka Joshi & Shivani Shinde / Mumbai November 23, 2009),
VoIP services come in real handy to make cheap overseas calls.
While domestic call rates have dipped to a measly 1 paisa/second in the country, telecom companies still maintain steep rates for international (ISD) calls. If Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are to be believed, internet telephony offers a way out, allowing users to make such calls for free from computers.
At present, a call can be made legally from a computer only to another computer within the country, and not to a phone. But domestic users are allowed to make international calls from their computers to a phone. Internet telephony, if unrestricted, would also allow consumers to make calls to a computer from their mobile handsets.
Users have already begun to see sense in internet telephony. Take, for instance, Mumbai-based Vikram Duseja, an executive with P&G who is on the move 15 days a month. The countries and cities he travels to are mostly remote and unknown territories.
“During my official visits, I neither have the time to go and look for local phone cards nor do I have a clue about the international call rates charged by my telecom operator. The next best thing for me is to use my Wi-Fi enabled laptop for calling home,” says Duseja.
“Wi-Fi is free at certain places abroad, like international airports and hotel lounges. It is, therefore, a better way for me to have lengthy conversations with my family back in Mumbai via a free Wi-Fi connection and any free internet telephony service provider,” he reasons simply. This way, Duseja saves on roaming charges on his internet data card for the laptop and also on his mobile phone connection. There are other users who have similarly taken to internet telephony. Jitendra Tandel, a 27-year-old media executive, began using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications purely to cut the long-distance phone bills he used to face to stay in touch with his brother in the UK.
“I speak to my brother once a month. By using internet telephony services, I end up saving close to 50 per cent on a call made either through a landline or through a mobile network,” Tandel says.
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Smart Upmove
Posted by :
shubham_27
Comatose,
I was looking to buy today below 90 level, but was quite surprised to see stock moved towards North.
Looks like i will have to wait to add more in the range 88-90....
Smart Upmove
Posted by : comatose
Looks like selling has stopped, and bargain hunters are accumulating .
...
Need help !!!
Posted by : poorfellow
It is engaged in production of some chemicals, the sector as a whole is doing well. Look to results and price movement of other companies engaged in the same line. They have risen by 5 to 8 times from the March/09 lows.
But see the price of this company. From 34/- in March to 77-80/- now. However, see the latest results of this company. It is mind boggling. I am giving below a summary in terms of turnover, EPS and NPM:
March/09 Annual: 1250.26/11.99/2.81
June/09 Quartely: 276.00/4.00/4.34
Sept/09 Quarterly: 280.00/7.00/7.34
So, do you find justification of lying this company such lows? Consistence increase of profitability makes it a super Multi-multi-bagger candidate....
Need help !!!
Posted by : sd3
Sir ,
Geo is strategic buy for any LT investor .
Am waiting for sub 80 level to make my buy .
next ,
Whats the new with Atul , I had made my token buy after our last discussion .
But couldnot fine ne news on that board .
sd3.....
Need help !!!
Posted by : poorfellowThat`s it. Spokn will bring the price of Geodesic to high levels. Wait for a few days and observe. ...
Need help !!!
Posted by : prjayachandran
Hi Jayant!
Sincerely sorry, I do not track both these companies....
Need help !!!
Posted by : prjayachandran
Hi Jashn Sarvi!
Thank you for the good words.
Regards....
Need help !!!
Posted by : Rumple
Dear Poorfellow,
Have you been holding Geodesic for long? I ask because I have not seen your comments here earlier.
Geodesic has already launched their VOIP product Spokn earlier this month. Are you reffering to something additional to Spokn?
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About Spokn, from Medianama
Posted by : comatose
How Geodesic’s Spokn Deals With India’s Tough Internet Telephony Norms
By MediaNama ⋅ November 17, 2009
Better late then never, Geodesic, which had recently said that it was working on improving the user interface of its VoIP service Spokn, has finally launched its VoIP offering. On the timing of the launch, with the government shuffling its feet on permitting unrestricted VoIP calls, Ashhar Farhan, Head Technology, Spokn, explained, “First, Internet is here to stay. It makes immense economic sense to lay down just one pipe and stream all services through that one pipe. Sooner than later, Radio, TV, Voice and Text will all migrate to the IP cloud.”
Spokn allows users to make voice calls between PC to PC, Phone to Phone, and PC to Phone. It competes with the likes of Skype, Net2Phone, Vonage, Impetus, Novanet and Yahoo Voice. The company is based out of Singapore and has inked interconnect agreements with International Long Distance providers across the globe - and Spokn calls are routed through their networks. These ILD operators receive a revenue share of 60-65% from the VoIP provider (the exact amount is calculated according to volumes and total call minutes) and the call is directed to the mobile or landline number as a normal voice call.
Geodesic MD Kiran Kulkarni explained to MediaNama the process of making a VoIP call: “our system first notes your number when the call is placed, and the number you want to connect to, then disconnects the line. The caller then receives a call back which patches her onto a conference call with the person she intended to call.”
The audio conferencing technique for VoIP is also used by Sabeer Bhatia backed SabseBolo which acquired Jaxtr, and Google was using the same for its short-lived (in India) click-to-call feature.
For calling any phones in India - including landlines and mobiles - the tariff is $0.02, which approximately amounts to Rs. 0.92 (92 paisa)! Calls to US and UK (landline) are also at $0.02 per minute. More on Spokn’s site
And what about calls placed from India to another number in India - a local or an STD call? Geodesic said that they do not terminate calls on to the Indian PSTN lines that originate from India. On being asked how they deal with such calls then, Kulkarni explained “We take it outside and reroute it. And for a call placed from India to any country, the cost doubles to 4 cents for the user.”
Indian government has banned VoIP call termination on public service telephone networks (PSTN or Landlines) and mobiles, even though Indian regulator TRAI had recommended changes be made for allowing VoIP calls to made to PSTN/PLMN or vice-versa within the country.
“VoIP is not illegal in India. All telco license holders are allowed VoIP if they want to use it. The ISPs too are allowed a restricted form of Internet telephony - IP device in India and a PSTN end-point,” said Farhan told us. ”There has been some noise about security concerns. We share these concerns and we have, in our response to TRAI’s consultation paper gone on to recommend even tougher regulations for Internet telephony. Internet telephony in India is regulated and licensed, which is good thing. If there are valid security concerns, then, the service providers are obliged to deal with it,” he said, adding that ”we will remained engaged in the policy debate while calibrating our India offerings to the evolving regulations.”
Currently, Geodesic says there should be no security concerns as both the originating number and the called number are tracked and this information is shared between the ILD operator and the VoIP service provider.
So whose responsibility is it on to keep a track of the source? Kulkarni said Geodesic follows VoIP guidelines set by regulatory bodies in this matter. ”The problem was - there were two routes: the VoIP route and the grey route. This latter was used and users could identify them by the absence of the originating number on the caller id. It would appear as an unknown number. But if a VoIP provider signs up with ILD operators and transmits the call through their networks, users can see the originating international number,” explains Kulkarni. If the call is made from a PC to a mobile, the number shown on the caller id will be a 10 digit US number, preceded by the country code.
The VoIP service also includes a voice messaging service (VMS) where a subscriber can record and send a 20 second message to any email for free and any phone at fixed cost that includes the 20 second reply. Why 20 seconds? Farhan said: When we started prototyping VMS, we came across a three significant issues. First, long winded VMS tend to become more like podcasts. Second, we cannot provide a fixed cost of delivery. Third, the bandwidth on mobiles can make longer messages really slow. Over months, we tested this extensively and hit the sweet spot of 20 seconds. Geodesic is likely to leverage its recent tie-up with Sybase 365 , a US-based voice messaging service.
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Need help !!!
Posted by : poorfellow
Yes, the intrinsic value of Geodesic, an old good stock, cannot be compared with new companies (un-tested strength and intrinsic value like RCom, Bharti Airtel etc.). It is certain that Geodesic will bounce back anytime.
I know particulary the stock Geodesic that it is developing a product which will sensationally thrill the VOIP (Internet voice telephony with genuine giant customers like Google) very shortly. BUY and Hold (Wait) for this stock to jump anytime to 20% UC consecutively for some days within nwxt 20 sessions. Technically, it is now at the major support level of Rs.89/-....
Need help !!!
Posted by :
jashn24
prjayachandranji,
it`s wonderful to have such frank and opinionated senior boarders like yourself and poorfellowji to look up to.have been follwing many of your posts for a while. :)
I guess the poorfellow method of accumulation, which i`m a great fan of, would work wonders in acquiring some of these high beta, but high growth posibility stocks like geodesic.. I agree with your analysis that 88 would be ideal price to get hold of some geod stocks and recover the capital amount while keeping free stocks for long term..as from 88/89, it looks good for an technical bounce back..
thanks for poorfellow for highlighting to us boarders the benifits of this superb technique .
(In crises, there lies gr8 opportunities..)
Cheers
Jashn Sarvi
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