Telstra has released its Voice2Text service allowing customers to read their voice messages by converting voicemail to SMS text messages.
Voice2Text subscribers will see the caller ID in the text message and have the option of listening to their voice messages the usual way.
Telstra consumer executive director Glenice Maclellan said with Voice2Text people can discreetly read the content of the voicemail and make a decision to answer it even if they are in a noisy environment, travelling, or doing something else.
“Voice2Text means customers won’t have to write down telephone numbers from their voice messages - it is all presented in the text message,” Maclellan said.
Telstra made the service available to all mobile customers following positive feedback from Telstra business customers.
Voice2Text is the result of a partnership with UK company SpinVox, which captures spoken words, and converts them into text using a combination of voice recognition and artificial intelligence.
SpinVox co-founder and CEO Christina Domecq said it is seven times faster to read a message than to listen to it and seven times faster to speak a message rather than type it on a mobile keyboard.
Telstra customers who take up the Voice2Text service for the first time will get one month free.
A number of monthly pricing options are available, including $15 for 500 messages or 40 cents per message with a $5 monthly fee.
