Spice Digital*, a mobile VAS company, has launched Voice Tube, an IVR based audio blogging platform in Bangladesh. The service first went live through Bangladesh's private operator Robi (an Axiata company). The company notes that the service will go live soon on Airtel Bangladesh. Voice Tube allows users to create audio content and share it with their network. The company notes that a maximum of 2 minute audio can be recorded. Once the user records an audio, it creates an MSISDN unique calling number, which is sent to the user via SMS. Followers of the user are also sent an SMS (Much Spam?) once a user they follow uploads an audio content. Apart from that, users can also listen to the audio content recorded by dialing the MSISDN and like or rate the content, share it on Facebook by sharing the unique dialing code. To avail the service, Robi users need to dial 808088 to subscribe to the service. It is priced at 2 Taka (~1.4 INR) for 2 days with 20 minutes of usage time. This is not the first time that such audio based social networking platform has been launched: In 2011, Vodafone India had launched Bubble Motion's Bubbly social messaging service. The service allowed subscribers record voice messages by dialing a number from their mobile phones, and get updates from subscribers they follow. Interestingly, the company did not charge subscribers to use the service and instead relied on cashing celebrity status updates. Bharti Airtel had also launched Airtel Blogs, powered by Bubble Motion’s Bubbly. VAS companies have also tried to bring TV shows…
