Engineers are currently working to ensure that only relevant mail gets into the subscriber's account, keeping out spam. The procedure is totally automated and completely secure, free of human interfacing, said SkyCell senior manager, technical, S Sridhar.

SkyCell is perhaps the only cellular operator at this juncture which is offering direct transmission and receipt of e-mail on the handset. Others allow for one-way connectivity with the Net, either receipt or transmission, and most often through the operator's home page.

With the basic criteria of connectivity being established which is two-way, SkyCell customers can now get news and information from the Net into cellphones. Customers could pose queries related to particularrequirements such as stock quotes, or sports updates etc. SkyCell has the facility to give customised answers, unlike others who flash common messages to all.

The internet-cellular messaging service was developed in-house at no significant extra costs. Though other cellular operators in the country offer short messaging services (SMS), which is not interactive, it is only a matter of time before they came out with similar services, senior manager, marketing, Dilbagh Singh Gill said.

The advantage that SkyCell has is in terms of in-house expertise, while others use third parties to provide the appropriate interface related to their hardware.

As SkyCell also provides roaming services, e-mail could be sent from mobile-to-mobile handsets free. However, the company is not unduly worried about losing much by way of air-time revenue as the messages are bound to be crisply fashioned.

To retain its edge over competition, SkyCell is planning to launch a number of services after August. These would be based onmarket research largely done in-house. First on the anvil is the `convenience of emergency services', expected to be welcomed by all subscribers.