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Airtel and eTravel India Unveil WAP Service Airtel , Bharti Cellular's mobile brand, has joined with Internet-based travel technology and management company eTravel India to launch their travel fulfillment service via Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).
"With the launch of eTravel India and Airtel's joint WAP- based air travel services today, subscribers of Airtel's Tango can now book air tickets on-line on discounts, varying from three to five per cent," said a statement from Airtel.
"eTravel India and Airtel are together making tangible the promise of 'Goodlife' brand platform by offering a plethora of customized web services under the WAP-driven Tango initiative," said Atul Jhamb, vice-president of marketing, Bharti Cellular.
"Immediate gain from the WAP service is not of much importance but the opportunity costs are very high. Initially, the challenge will be to educate the customers about the utility of these services to them and later skim the market," Vaibhav Dayal, head of business, mobile Internet services, eTravel India said.
Under the travel fulfillment service, confirmations for air tickets can be made instantly and the tickets will be delivered within three hours in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, Jhamb said. Tickets will be delivered within 24 hours in other cities, he added. Information on packages offered by various airlines can also be accessed.
Since payments are to be made on delivery and not by credit cards, users will avoid paying additional fees to various payment gateways. Depending on market response, a payment gateway enabling purchases to be made online through credit cards may also be introduced.
eTravel India is India's first Internet-based travel technology and management B2B firm set up with the financial support of Infinity ventures and has a total equity capital of $ 4 million, Bhatia said. Airtel-Tango is the WAP gateway of Bharti Cellular Ltd., launched on last Thursday.
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