Pay phones from Indus: Indus Telecom, an associate company of Indus Inc, USA, will launch comprehensive payphone and phonecards for basic telecom service providers by September 1998. The company is also offering its services in the management of high quality payphone franchise locations. In the initial phase, Indus Telecom plans to provide these services in partnership with Hughes Ispat Ltd in the Maharashtra circle only, starting with Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune. With the current teledensity of Mumbai being a low 12 per cent, Indus Telecom sees good potential in this sector and hopes to establish around 5,000 lines and generate revenues to the tune of Rs 150 crore in the first year of operation. The most striking feature of the payphone is it can generate additional revenues by way of advertising through an LCD screen display. This payphone has an inbuilt, tamper-proof, metering device controlled by the company's mother computer, has a charger and a battery back-up for seven hours of talk-time, veryhigh level of security and provides the option to pay by cash or card. This apart, the instruments are computer and printer compatible and according to company vice-chairman Ravi Kailas, they are sturdy and inexpensive. Another value-added product launched by the company is the pre-paid phone card. In the first phase, the company will introduce personal identification number (PIN)-based phone cards which will connect the user, through a toll free number, to any desired number. Even for ISD connections.