Techzone is offering mobile users live streaming of prayer recitals from Mecca.
Using the IVR service, users can listen to the live recitals by the Imam and participate in the holy prayers using their handsets.
To avail the service, users can dial the IVR code for Rs 3 per minute and get access to the live prayer recitals at Mecca. The IVR is available during the month of Ramzaan from July 7, 2013 till Eid.
Commenting on the launch of IVR, Naveen Bhandari, MD, Techzone said, ?Live streaming from Mecca on IVR is the next step in devotional VAS consumption, initiated by Techzone. In India, the adoption and consumption of religious and devotional VAS such as ringtones, CRBT, wallpapers, screen savers, mobile prayers and alarms has grown increasingly. Currently, out of the total mobile downloads, about 20-25 per cent of total mobile downloads are religious or devotional content, compared to 15-20 per cent in 2010. There is also a growing demand of religious and devotional content in local languages to address region and culture specific demand. The live streaming from Mecca is our attempt to cater to this audience. During Ramzaan, there are many Islamic devotees who are not able to travel to the holy land of Mecca to get the blessings. This IVR will make them feel closer to Mecca with the live recitals at any time of day. Since Saudi Arabia runs 2 and 1/2 hr early than India, the users have to accordingly time their usage.?
Further, post Eid, Techzone will launch the second phase of IVR service. The second phase will have additional offerings like IVRs of Quran recitals, Islamic devotional songs and Tasbih etc. Under the Quran recital, the users will be able to hear the Quran recital by none other than the Imam of Mecca. The users will also be able to bookmark the suras and start hearing from where they had left the last time. This IVR is expected to gain popularity with the Non-Urdu readers. For Islamic devotional songs, the users will be able to dial in, browse through the huge list of songs, choose and listen to them on the IVR. The database of songs will keep multiplying every week. The most interesting IVR however, will be for Tasbih, wherein the users will be able to call and have 99 names of Allah recited to. The users will also be able to practice their Dikhr while recital happens.
The Live streaming from Mecca will be available pan India on telecom service providers like Uninor and Tata Docomo. Currently, In Mumbai, this VAS is available on MTNL. The users from MTNL Mumbai and Idea – Tamil Nadu can dial 56060786 and listen to live prayers from Mecca at Rs 3 per minute. Uninor users can dial 560603786 while Tata Docomo users can dial 56060 at Rs 3 per minute to get access to the IVR. The users will be able to hear the live streaming as soon as they dial in.
