‘UMS market still to be explored’

Our eFE Bureau in Mumbai

Access to information anytime and anywhere for people on the move is becoming a necessity. This is Unified Messaging Service, and speakers at the India Telecom 2001 appeared optimistic about the future of the business in India. Explaining the current status of the UMS market in India, Mr Vinayak Rajanahally, managing director of Grand Infotech Pvt Ltd, a company specialising in Fax Over IP (FOIP) and (UMS) said that this market is yet to be explored and lacks focused players and awareness. Culture is another thing that needs to be addressed, as people still have to adapt to ‘voicemail as a communication habit’. He added that people had to be made aware of the service. He says that with a good business model, it could provide a good revenue stream. He added that the demand for this service is good because of the increasing user mobility, growth in teledensity and growth in Internet user community. The session was also addressed by Mr Frank Jiang, vice president of business development at 2bSURE.com Pte Ltd, a Unified Communication Service Provider (UCSP). Mr Jiang explained that to avail of these services one simply had to dial into the local communication center, choose the language mode, enter the UMS number and access the user account via IVR (interactive voice response). The major components of UMS are voicemail, fax and e-mail.