Telstra is now making available to all consumer customers, what it says is an “innovative service” – the conversion of voicemail to text – after encouraging feedback from its business customers using the new service.

Telstra Consumer Executive Director, Glenice Maclellan, said today customers who subscribe to the service have their voicemail messages converted to text and sent to their mobile phone as an SMS.
 
“Voice2Text subscribers will see the caller ID in the text message, allowing them to easily call or text straight back. Customers also have the option of listening to their voice messages by simply calling messagebank in the normal way.”

According Maclellan, Voice2Text is simple, easy to use, and saves customers valuable time.

"At a glance, people can usually see who has called, discreetly read the content of the voicemail and make prompt decisions even if they are in a noisy environment, travelling, or simply in the middle of doing something else.

"In addition, Voice2Text means customers won't have to write down telephone numbers from their voice messages - it is all presented in the text message.

Telstra product management executive director, Ross Fielding, said the service had been made available to all mobile customers following encouraging feedback from business customers.
 
"We have found that our customers are embracing new ways of communicating where the solution adds flexibility and convenience to their lives and saves them valuable time. Telstra will continue to innovate using speech and look for new ways to help our customers better communicate and stay in touch."

Telstra says it is partnering with UK company, SpinVox, to bring the voice to text service to Australian customers. The telco says that the SpinVox voice message conversion system (VMCS) captures spoken words and automatically converts them into text using a combination of voice recognition, artificial intelligence and natural linguistics.

SpinVox co-founder and CEO, Christina Domecq, said the service will make everyday communications, more convenient and more powerful and, she claimed, the system was seven times quicker to read a message than to listen to it and seven times quicker to speak a message rather than type it on a mobile keyboard.

Telstra has announced that customers who take up the Voice2Text service for the first time will also get the service free for the first month. After that they could choose from a number of monthly pricing options including $15 for 500 messages or pay as you go at 40 cents per message (with $5 monthly fee).