Speak Wireless: Store Your Mobile's Music Online Date:   Monday , January 04, 2010 Few years ago, companies started moving their data to a virtualized server to save cost on the extra hardware to ramp up storage, now the same technology has made its way into the cellphones. Thanks to Ringmytring.com developed by Speak Wireless, users will now be able to store songs in their online accounts and can listen it by simply dialing a short code or long code. If the phone is WAP enabled and support mobile streaming, the user can listen to the song by simple logging into his account. According to Anil Kumar, Founder of Speak Wireless, the service will be available by the end of January 2010. “We are in the pilot stage of this innovative service, which is offered to mobile phone users for the first time,” he says. Mainly targeted towards the youth segment, the ‘M-radio’ service as it is christened by the company will also enable users to dedicate songs to their friends. The company plans to have two types of subscription models for this service, one in which the user will directly pay the operator based on the usage and the other one is by using a prepaid card, which the company will sell through the prepaid outlets. Kumar, who self funded the company says that ads will also be embedded at the end of the songs to have another revenue stream for the company. Apart from targeting the youth with its entertainment value added services, the company also wants to focus on the rural areas. “There are lots of opportunities for VAS companies in the villages,” says Kumar. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), there has been a rise of 18 percent in use of the mobiles by rural subscribers. Rising from 93.2 million users at the end of last year, India today has more than 110 million rural mobile subscribers. Though the number of rural subscribers has been growing steadily, because of lack of awareness the growth of VAS has been restricted in this region, says a report by Lirneasia. Despite the huge network rollout in rural areas and the intense low tariff war among the operators the study showed the usage of VAS in rural areas is just one percent. Currently, the company has developed an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) through which a rural woman who is pregnant can get medical assistance by dialing a number. Another IVRS platform is also developed for the farmer community to buy and sell their harvest. “We are talking to some of the government agencies to implement these applications in villages, which can bring a lot change in these communities,” says Kumar. The Mohali based company also provides technical support on data devices. “Currently we are only the second company in India that provides data technical support on data devices to the customers of Aircel, Vodafone and Airtel,” says Kumar. Through this support, the customers will be given information about their handsets and can also get assistance to activate services such as GPRS or Wi-Fi. “Many people don’t know what are the features available on their handsets, hence they are unable to use some services,” says Kumar. In the VAS space the company believes in offering services that are unique and by targeting areas like villages and rural market that have more opportunities, the Founder says that the company has a competitive advantage. Speak Wireless has its head office in Mohali and a branch office in Bhubaneswar with a total employee strength of 350. In the future, Kumar wants to start a community portal to cash in on the potential in social networking. He also wants to start a portal for spreading awareness on global warming and he says that the revenue from the portal will also be used for a green initiative.