ollect calls may soon become a regular feature on all mobile phones going by the popularity that Spice Telecom's venture has gained. Six months ago, the mobile service provider in Punjab had introduced Pay-4-me, a service by which collect calls could be made on Spice-to-Spice connections and charges billed to the subscriber called. The company says that Pay-4-me has been a hit. On an average, it claims to have garnered 80,000 collect calls each day out of a 1.4 million subscriber base, ever since its launch in December. The call charge for the Pay-4-me feature on Spice network is Rs 3 per minute.

Prepaid customers stand to benefit greatly. For instance, they can make a call even if the balance has run out. Says Savinder Sarna, head, business development and new alliances, Cellebrum a value added service provider, which developed the model: "Almost 75 per cent of mobile subscribers in India are prepaid. Moreover, cellular operators these days are providing lifetime products. In this context, Pay-4-me is an irresistible offer. A service like this will ease the pressure on a prepaid subscriber who desperately wants to make a call but has run out of balance." ... more