MUMBAI: Airtel Broadband & Telephone Services (Airtel B&TS) today introduced the voice chat service on Airtel fixed-lines as part of its endeavour to deliver innovative service offerings to its fixed-line customers. This facility will enable customers to chat anonymously with other Airtel mobile and fixed-line customers, across the country.

According to an official release, the key aspect of this service is that it enables customers, especially women, to search for friends from amongst total strangers without the risk of exposing their real identity. To avail the service, an Airtel fixed-line customer has to call *694 and register his profile. Once registered, the customer searches for profiles with similar interests as his to chat with and extends chat invitations to them. In a bid to offer security and anonymity, users have the option to accept or reject the invitation. All users also have the option of ‘call back‘ as well as ‘direct calling‘ on their chat IDs. This service is available at a monthly rental of Rs. 30 and a call charge of Rs. 3 per minute. The company has an introductory offer of no monthly rental till 30 June.

President of Airtel broadband and telephone services Atul Bindal, said, "This service will take the telephone beyond ordinary voice calling and will enable our customers to search in a secure and anonymous manner for like-minded friends, thereby providing a more interesting medium for the extremely popular internet chatting service."