Karnataka - Bangalore

AIR launches `news on phone'

Staff Reporter

The capsule will contain both national and local news

NEWS ON PHONE: (From left) R. Narasimha Swamy, Superintending Engineer, All India Radio; Akshay Rout, Additional Director General (News), AIR, New Delhi; and Ram Ganapathi, Chief General Manager, BSNL, Karnataka Circle, at the inauguration of AIR's `news on phone' service in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: People can now listen to All India Radio news capsules on the phone by dialling AIR's `news on phone' service.

Callers in Bangalore can dial 1258 for Kannada news and 1259 for English news. People can also dial 22377525 for Kannada news and 22377530 for English news. People outside Bangalore can use the service by using the STD code.

The `news on phone' service uses the Interactive Voice Response System provided by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. It is available on cellphones and landlines.

`News on phone'

Launched on Tuesday, the `news on phone' service will provide individuals with 100 seconds of news.

The news capsule will contain both national and local news. The national broadcasts will be in English and Hindi while the local news will be in Kannada and English. Akshay Rout, Additional Director General (News), New Delhi, said AIR was making continuous efforts to bring the latest to its listeners.

He said AIR was planning introduce more value-added services. "We need to keep improving to meet the challenges imposed on us by growing competition," he said.

The `news on phone' service was launched in New Delhi in 1998. It is available in Chennai, Hyderabad, Patna and Mumbai. AIR will launch the service in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.

It also plans to launch the service shortly in Raipur, Simla, Jaipur, Lucknow, Guwahati, Imphal and Kolkata.

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