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Spice offers Net via non-WAP phones in K'taka 

Kavitha Rajasekhar  
Bangalore, July 20: Cellular services operator Spice Communications has launched wireless Internet services for its subscribers in Karnataka, who will now be able to access data without having to use WAP phones. The service christened `Spice WAP or SWAP' integrates WAP technology at the back-end and will provide access facility to the users through the already existing SMS service. As for the working of the application, the user will need to type in short simple codes to indicate what he would like to browse, and send it to the operator via SMS. He will then receive in reply, a menu indicating the site links, and an SMS code for him to use further and obtain specific information.

The code `w' which indicates access to the world wide Web, will be the initiating code for the process, and will throw up a menu of site names including that of BBC World, Rediff.com, etc. Once the link names are available, the user will be able to choose what information he would like to get on his handset. As for another feature of the service, a customer who would like to access a particular site which contains WAP enabled information, can type out the URL with the word "Web" as the prefix, to be able to get information from that particular site instantly.

Speaking on the service, Spice Karnataka COO, Sean Dexter told the media that the service was as of now free to all its subscribers across Karnataka and would soon be launched in Punjab and Calcutta. "This is a much cheaper solution compared to actually investing in a WAP phone and opting for a service. Spice will offer this service for the time being, and the actual WAP service will be rolled out within the next couple of months," Dexter said. As for other services, the company has already launched mobile banking information services in association with HDFC bank and is looking at offering mobile transaction services shortly. Other general SMS services like weather, horoscope, etc., are already available.

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