Geodesic Info Systems set to roll in India: Farhan Ashhar

Farhan Ashhar , Chief Architect Net Telephony at Geodesic Info Systems said that the company is looking forward to developing low cost devices to provide IP phone services. 'We expect a whole new bunch of Internet users to come in, precisely, because they would like to use Internet telephony as opposed to email, etc.', said Ashhar.

The company, he said, is looking at a fairly large user base considering the fact that 14 million homes in India already have Internet service, and this will facilitate the provision of Internet telephony and converged telephony by Geodesic Info Systems.

Excerpts fron CNBC-TV18's exclusive interview with Farhan Ashhar:

Q: When are you looking at the launch of this product and how geared are you for converting the existing subscribers to adopt this model of telephony?

A: We are looking at a timeline of about two months to start rolling out the service. We expect to have a fair degree of conversion from various pockets of users. However, we are looking at a medium degree of ramp-up. India is exciting for us especially because Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India ( TRAI ) has now recommended National Long Distance Operator  ( NLDO ) to connect with Internet service provider ( ISP ) and telecom providers based on our recommendations. India is very progressive with respect to its regulation and we are looking forward to Department of Telecom (DoT) accepting the recommendations of TRAI to proceed with our rollout in India.

Q: One of the drawbacks is that one just cannot covert the existing landlines into IP phones. Given that kind of a scenario, what would be the upfront cost that would be associated with the IP phones and in that case, do you think that would hamper a significant move in this direction?

A: I do not think that the telephone cost by itself is going to be very significant. We are looking at some really low cost devices. I really cannot, at this point in time, comment on how low the cost of each potential device will be; however, it will be a surprisingly low cost device. Also, one has to realise that the Internet penetration in India in itself is fairly nominal, if one considers the amount of population here. The reason for this is pretty clear; we Indians prefer talking to writing emails, etc. We expect a whole new bunch of Internet users to come in, precisely, because they would like to use Internet telephony as opposed to email, etc.

Q: In your initial survey and study of the market, what kind of numbers have you come across in terms of the kind of net subscriber additions you can get at this point in time, and besides the retail class of subscribers, what about corporates? Is it a bit of a disadvantage for them to migrate to this model at present? How are you studying that class as a client base?  

A: I would refrain from giving a lot of hard figures in here because that might become a guidance.

Q: What would be your market size?

A: Considering the broadband user base, etc., there exists quite a significant number, but according to the TRAI's latest figures, about 14 million homes already have Internet with them. This essentially means that they are enabled to a degree. We will be able to provide them with Internet telephony and converged telephony. We are looking at a fairly large user base.

Second, India is not our exclusive market. We are aiming at being a global player in this arena, and we already have a very small user base, which we will try to expand very quickly in the days to come.

Q: Now that iPhone will be available in India as well, how much revenue do you see possible from Mundu (Mundu Interoperable Messenger V3) itself and the phone that you are developing? You spoke about the cost aspects, would it be possible to have the software on the IP phone as well?   

A: This is very interesting because one of the most successful applications on iPhone is the Mundu Interoperable Messenger (IM). Approximately, about 10% of iPhone users have already been using the Mundu IM as their messaging platform because we were very quick in the market. We are very happy with the iPhone . We are trying to work very closely with the messaging service providers on one end and with the iPhone development teams on the other in order to help them integrate instant messaging to our iPhone applications.

iPhone itself is not a service, it is a phone. We are trying to reach out to every phone manufacturer and confirm that this telephony service works across devices and across platforms.

Q: You talked about it being a very low cost service or do you want to make it into one? What about competition that already exists in the market in terms of free talks on Gtalk and also, could you tie-in the kind of revenue potential you see coming in from your licensing deal with Medion AG?

A: There are actually two types of Internet telephony service providers. Some of them include Gtalk, Yahoo!, etc.; however, all these providers are essentially providing calls between IP and points such as between PCs or between PCs and IP phones, etc. The service that we are talking about is actually a full-fledged telephony service. One does not get a user ID but gets a phone number and people can call them on this number and your IP device will ring.

So, this telephony service is not attractive for techno geeks. We want to take it to the masses. Until now it has been a lab curiosity. People who are early adopters have to take it and use it pretty well but it has not really percolated down to the common person and that is the whole idea.

Q: What is the revenue potential that you will get from Medion?

A: I really cannot comment on that right now because that would become a guidance. One will have to probably wait for a couple of weeks before we can put those figures out.