Company Press Release:
New Delhi, March 22, 2006: Airtel
- India’s leading mobile service provider today announced the availability of
Indian classical music content on mobile. Over 100 pieces of India’s finest
classical music from some of India’s best known maestros will now be available
as Ring Tones and Hello Tunes to Airtel’s18.45 million mobile customers. This
is the first time that such a wide range of Indian classical repertoire is made
available on the mobile music platform.
Announcing the latest initiative, Mr.
Hemant Sachdev, Director – Marketing and Communications, Bharti Tele-Ventures said,
“We are delighted to be the first to take Indian classical music genre to
open up new segments. India has a rich tradition of Indian classical music.
With Airtel Music Maestros, we are promoting this traditional and
institutionalized genre in a big way. Now, from a niche restricted audience, it
will be available to a much larger audience only through Airtel”.
Some of the artists whose pieces have
been made available include – Pt. Ravi
Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Bismillah KhanUstad Vilayat Khan, Ustad
Alla Rakha,Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Pandit Jasraj, Pt.Hari
Prasad Chaurasia & Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma.
The various streams of music available on
Airtel will include Thumri, Dadra, Chaiti and Kajri. Airtel customers can now
appreciate the finer nuances of Alaap, Jod, Jhala and Gat on Indian classical
instruments on their mobiles. Besides, they can also enjoy Kheyal and Bandish
from some of India’s greatest classical musicians.
The Airtel Music Maestros was
launched today in Delhi by Mr. Hemant Sachdev, Director - Marketing &
Communication, Bharti Tele-Ventures and world renowned artistes, Pt. Hari
Prasad Chaurasia flautist par excellence and Santoor maestro Pt. Shiv Kumar
Sharma.
The process of downloading the Indian
classical music genre is simple. Any Airtel subscriber needs to call 678-517 to
download this collection as their hello tunes. Ringtones can be downloaded by
calling 646-517 or logging onto the Airtel live! WAP portal.
With this, Airtel reiterates its promise
to make music more accessible to its customers. Airtel recently launched
Easy Music, a pioneering service where Airtel mobile users across the
country will have easy access to the wide repertoire of 18,000 songs in 20
languages via 100,000 Airtel music outlets. With this service, all the customer
needs to do is to walk into any Airtel Easy Music outlet, choose their
favourite song and the retailer will download it on to the customers phone in a
mere 60seconds.
Airtel Music Maestros, is yet another
initiative from Airtel that will not just cater to existing classical music
lovers but will enfold a whole new segment of music enthusiasts. This music
form, traditionally patronized by a niche segment, will now reach out to the
new ‘mobile generation’ through Airtel Music Maestros.
About Bharti Tele-Ventures
Bharti Tele-Ventures is one of India’s leading
private sector providers of telecommunications services with an aggregate of
over 19.74 million customers as of end of February ‘06, consisting of more than
18.45 million mobile customers. The company is the only operator to provide
mobile services in all the 23 circles in India. The company also provides
telephone services and Internet access over DSL in 15 circles. The company
complements its mobile, broadband & telephone services with national and
international long distance services. The company also has a submarine cable
landing station at Chennai, which connects the submarine cable connecting
Chennai and Singapore. The company is a part of the consortium, which jointly
owns and has developed the next generation undersea cable system SEA-ME-WE-4.
The company provides reliable end-to-end data and enterprise services to the
corporate customers by leveraging its nationwide fiber optic backbone, last
mile connectivity in fixed-line and mobile circles, VSATs, ISP and
international bandwidth access through the gateways and landing station. For
more information, visit www.bhartiteleventures.com