MUMBAI, Dec 29: An innovative electronic mail service launched by the postal department nearly three years ago is now in limbo, due to the sudden affordability of computers. The fall in computer prices has almost rendered an innovative service devised to deliver e-mail to small businessmen and individual customers a no-show. Hybrid mail combines e-mail with Speed Post and enables users in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Patna, Lucknow and Simla to send and receive mail on the same day. ``It was meant for people who could wait for a few hours to send mail to another city, but were forced to fax large quantities of documents instead,'' said a senior postal official. However, the downward plunge in computer prices and easier availability of low-cost e-mail services ensured that users switching over from fax to electronic mail installed appropriate equipment of their own without availing of this technology.
``Technology has clearly overtaken this service,'' lamented V K Khanna, executive director,
GPO, Mumbai. Only about 20-25 customers avail of the service every month, said postal officials . First launched in January 1995, hybrid mail was thought of as a cheaper alternative to faxing documents.
The cost of transmitting two kilobytes of data is equivalent to that of faxing a single page of information from Mumbai to Delhi: Rs 40. However, transmitting additional data by hybrid mail cost just Rs 5 per two kilobytes, resulting in substantial savings for those faxing documents in bulk.
A hybrid mail user has to deliver the material for transmission on a HD 5 1/4" floppy on Wordstar. At the other end, the message is downloaded on a floppy and sent by Speed Post to the receiver. Alternatively, the receiver may be contacted by telephone to collect the message on his own. Users without access to computers can also deliver the material in typed form, which can then be entered on a floppy for Rs 10 a page, postal officials said.
Material received before 3 pm every day is delivered on the same day, while
that received later is delivered the following day. The postal department has hired a transponder on INSAT for transmitting messages every two hours and adequate transmission equipment installed in each of the cities where the service is scheduled to be available.
Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
