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Travelmartindia announces India's first end-to-end mobile travel solution

ETW Staff - Mumbai

Travel portal, Travelmartindia, has launched the country's first end-to-end mobile telephony flight booking and payment solution. This allows cell phone users to browse flight availability, make bookings and even pay for their tickets via SMS. The payment module is powered by Travelmartindia's strategic alliance with Mumbai-based wireless transactions platform provider Paymate.

Manoj Gursahani, chairman of Travelmartindia, says, "The solution is unique in two distinct ways. Firstly, it allows customers to make and pay for their flight bookings over their cell phone using the SMS protocol. And second, it offers a browsing experience that's optimised specifically for PDA and smartphone users." Travelmartindia has inked a travel channel partnership with mobile transaction platform provider C-Sam, which is a brainchild of technocrat Sam Pitroda.

In partnership with Delhi-based mobile technology solution provider Voltish, Travelmartindia has managed to port its entire site onto the .mobi domain using J2ME technology, making it easier to browse from handheld devices.

The Mobile Value-Added Services (MVAS) segment allows higher margins for telecom operators, at the same time offering mobile subscribers a better choice of services. According to an MVAS report prepared jointly by Internet & Mobile Association of India (IMAI) and IMRB International, MVAS will bring in nearly US$ 1 billion by the end of 2007, rising from Rs 2,850 crore to Rs 4,560 crore.