Cheap calls in india

India is slowly making it's way towards making VOIP as Tier 1 type of communication medium. This is really big news for everyone who wants to make cheap calls to India.

We have confirm news that The Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI) have asked the government to premit unrestricted domestic internet telephony. That means VOIP can be totally legal in India. This will get rid of illgal grey routes and STD calls can be offered at 15 paise/minute and local calls can be free on the same network. Imagine making free calls within India :)

VOIP Providers can offer free local calls in India in case of own network (that is, within the network of a particular internet service provider) and 10 paise per minute for calls on other VOIP network. International call rates can further come down to 50 paise per minute on same IP network, and in other IP network 75 paise. And if you want to call on a mobile or fixed line from an IP phone, STD call rates can be offered at 50 paise per minute. I can't imagine what grey route operators would do with this setup :) They can literally offer at 25 paise per minute and route all calls via single IP network and still make 10 paise/per minute.

Actually speaking, all local in-network calls never hit the PSTN/Cellular lines. They are all routed via own IP network. Remember Tata and Reliance offers? Call to other reliance phone customer is FREE coz in network IP calls are always free (minus maintaince cost of course). Its like calling via SIP network. No Wonder ADAG doing good:)

Interestingly, a $2.5 (Rs 100) calling card offers a 30 minute call to India from US which comes to a per minute rate of Rs 3.33 for an ISD call from US to India. Whereas in India, the mobile operators offer the same call at double the price for a call to the US. Look whos making money?

We really hope that govt allows full VOIP connectivity for all local and international calls including VOIP to PSTN and PSTN to VOIP terminations. This would allow VOIP providers like Tpad to setup their gateways in India and offer access number based cheap international calls. Lets hope the customers get the best rate.

According to our analysis, Calls to India will be as low as 1-1.5 cent per minute by 2010. This assumes VOIP being legal in india and market growth of over 20%-40% per year in international and domestic calls.