Date:07/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/07/stories/2007070751490200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Airtel launches music portal

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: Airtel has launched a music portal that allows subscribers to access a database of 10,000 songs in 17 regional languages. Simply call the toll-free line 57777 and follow the IVR directions.

Harish Gandhi, Airtel Vice-President, (Value Added Services and New Product Development), said usage patterns clearly demonstrated a huge appetite for music-based services. On an average, 25-30 million downloads a month are done on mobiles largely as ringtones and hello tunes, and about 20 per cent of music sale of music companies nationally is from mobile music downloads.

The tariff is currently fixed at Rs. 30 on subscription with 100 free minutes. The IVR dynamically cautions the user in case free minutes are coming to an end. “We’re still working on an ideal subscription model for the service,” said Mr. Gandhi.