"Zipfone. Change the way you talk."  

One sees this banner at some of the most remote places in the city, at communication centres, at railway stations, outside retail outlets, even outside the ubiqutious panbeedi shops at all corners of the city.

The PCO's all wear a new sleek look. The public telephones have never had it better and the credit for revamping the image of the PCO goes to ZIP Telecom. The Zipfone, the Intelligent Display based Payphone was launched as a part of Zip Telecom's Payphone services in Navi Mumbai in November 1998. The Zipfone since then has been placed in over 13000 locations across 17 cities .

Amit Rele, Manager-Product Development, says, "While the Telecom network and terminal equipment technology saw rapid upgradation , the Payphones (PCO Boxes) remained untouched and could support voice as the only revenue stream . The Zipfone addressed this area specifically and created a novel advertising medium through its LCD Screen and speed dial buttons. Also, by virtue of its design, it offers additional value added services to consumers like Internet access including data transfer."

While the technology that supports the Zipfones may be a little technical for the average layman, it is a fact that the the zipfones with the display screens are a revolution that has changed the face of the PCO.As Amit Rele puts it, "PCOs are gradually changing their look and character from being traditional call shops to being more sophisticated voice and data access points. The most significant trend is that PCO boxes that used to exist in 'communication centres' are now being more prominently seen atretail establishments like groceries, medical shops, pubs, theatres, supermarkets etc. The Zipfone with its superior revenue model has pioneered this so far."

Zip runs its PCO business in Maharashtra and Goa on the Hughes Wireline / wireless network. Both the companies set up operations in India around the same time and it was mutually beneficial to tie up, a tieup that established both the companies firmly in the telecom sector. At the inauguration of a company aided exclusive outlet located in the Masjid area of the city the Hughes Ispat Limited CEO Deepak Dutt had emphasised its strong commitment the expeditious delivery of basic telephone services in the region and said, "The launch of our services along with Zip Telecom's payphone is a great way to announce the beginning of our operations in Bombay. HIL is committed to providing world-class technology in basic telephone to the people of Maharashtra."

While Hughes is focused on providing global and seamless communication networks, the immediate plans at ZIP are a national rollout of services to reach an installed base of 50,000 phones in 50 cities, building the Zipfone brand nationally and a rollout of the Zipfone business model internationally to similar markets .

By : Supriya Rathod