A new telephone service which will allow people to call abroad at massively discounted rates, is being launched in Bahrain today.

Ascentech Telecom's 'Wow@Home' service features a specially-designed phone set, which is plugged into an Internet socket to make and receive calls, said company managing director Hamad Abdulaal.

'Calls to India are available at 4.7 fils per minute; to the US at five fils per minute and to the UK starting at 2.75 fils per minute for a land line and 15 fils per minute for a mobile,' he said.

'This translates to spending 282 fils for a one-hour call to India; 300 fils to the US; 162 fils to a UK land line and 900 fils to a mobile.'

'Several other destinations are also available at discounted rates, which are significantly less than even the cheapest calling cards available.'

Local calls to land lines will cost five fils a minute.

Subscribers must buy the phone, in order to connect to the service.

'Every subscriber will be allotted a dedicated number which he can use for free Wow-to-Wow calls across the world,' he said.

'Anyone purchasing the instrument from the company can leave it in his home country and be able to make free calls at any time, using the same instrument in Bahrain.'

Abdulaal said the international call costs would be a 10th of regular phone call and half the cost of calls made through providers like Skype.

'The increasing use of phone services over the Internet is going to change the market completely,' he said.

Booths have been set up at LuLu Hypermarkets' branches in Riffa and Dana Mall where potential buyers are being invited to try out the product, by making free phone calls across the world.-TradeArabia News Service