Kamal KC
In today’s digital era, communication between businesses and customers is scattered across multiple channels—phone calls, SMS, email, WhatsApp, Messenger, and more.
When different employees interact with the same customer through different platforms, information often becomes fragmented or incomplete. This not only affects customer satisfaction but also makes it difficult for businesses to make timely and informed decisions.
Addressing this challenge, Nepali startup TingTing has developed an AI-powered business communication platform that centralizes all customer interactions into a single system. The goal is to make communication more efficient, organized, and continuous.
“Different people communicate with customers through different channels. This makes it difficult to fully understand customer issues or even build a single user persona,” said Sojan Prajapati, Chief Business Officer of TingTing, in an interview with ICT Samachar. “When all conversations are centralized in one platform, solutions become easier. TingTing is built to solve exactly this problem.”
Personalized Customer Experience
Through TingTing, businesses can send emails, SMS, and make phone calls from a unified dashboard. All previous calls, messages, emails, and customer queries are visible in one place, eliminating the need to search across multiple systems.
One of its key features is the ability to send mass messages while maintaining a personalized touch. SMS, emails, or calls can include the customer’s name, making the interaction feel direct and personal.
For example: “Hello Sojan Ji, your internet bill payment is due today.”
Such communication enhances customer experience and reinforces the idea that customers are a business’s top priority.
Routine notifications, reminders, and repetitive conversations are handled automatically by TingTing’s AI. More complex queries are forwarded to human agents. According to the company, this improves call center efficiency and allows employees to focus on more productive tasks.
AI Built Specifically for the Nepali Language
TingTing’s AI engine is specially developed for the Nepali language. Its core technologies include:
- Text-to-speech conversion
- Speech-to-text conversion
- Conversational AI for real-time dialogue
Three years ago, the company developed an AI model named Riri. Starting with Riri-1, the model has now evolved to Riri-3.
- Riri-1 converts text into speech and is currently used by various news portals and government websites.
- Riri-2 converts speech into text.
- Riri-3 is a generative AI system capable of two-way customer conversations.
All these technologies were built from scratch specifically for the Nepali language.
Initially, Riri was trained using employees’ voices. Later, professional voice-over artists were brought in. “Currently, we have trained the system using five different voices. Each person needs to provide at least 10 hours of clean data, and sometimes up to 20 hours of recording is required to extract that clean dataset,” Prajapati explained.
Products and Technology
TingTing was officially established about a year ago as a subsidiary of Prixa Group. While Prixa had been working on AI models for three years, the decision to move forward with a separate business model led to the launch of TingTing.
The name “TingTing” was inspired by the familiar notification sound that resonates in everyone’s mind.
Currently, the company has launched four major products:
- TingTing Voice
- TingTing Text
- TingTing Forms
- TingTing Agent
TingTing Forms is based on a speech-to-text “thinking forms” concept. Similar to Google Forms, it conducts surveys via phone calls, automatically converting spoken responses into text.
TingTing Text is an SMS engine built using Sparrow SMS technology.
TingTing Voice delivers natural Nepali speech while capturing local tone and emotional nuances.
TingTing Agent replaces traditional IVR systems like “Press 1 for support” with natural two-way conversations. It can understand Nepali intent, tone, and emotion in under 200 milliseconds, significantly enhancing customer experience.
The engine can simultaneously make or receive between 10,000 and 20,000 calls. A single TingTing Agent can handle around 2,500 calls, with additional agents deployed for higher volumes.
“TingTing Agent does not replace jobs; it automates repetitive tasks,” Prajapati said. “It allows call center staff to focus on more productive work.”
The cost of making calls through TingTing is Rs 2 per minute—Rs 1 for connection and Rs 1 after the system starts speaking. In comparison, similar services through global cloud telephony platforms can cost Rs 30–40 per call.
All calls are automatically transcribed, enabling management to evaluate performance without listening to each recording. Sentiment analysis helps determine customer satisfaction levels and agent performance.
Clients: From Banks to Digital Wallets
TingTing is currently used by banks, digital wallets, insurance companies, and internet service providers in Nepal. It plays a vital role in payment reminders, KYC notifications, service updates, feedback collection, and social messaging.
Major organizations using TingTing include WorldLink, Vianet, Citizens Bank, eSewa, CellPay, and Deprosc Laghubitta.
More than 50 institutions are currently using the platform. Around one million calls are handled monthly, with over five million calls processed so far.
Data Security and Privacy
TingTing prioritizes data security. Large institutions can host data on their own servers, while small and medium enterprises use secure cloud hosting.
“The company cannot access users’ usernames or passwords,” Prajapati said. “The authentication process is designed according to international standards.”
Regular Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) is conducted to ensure system security.
Aiming to Become a Global Company
TingTing aims to become a global AI-first communication platform, integrating telephony, messaging, and social media into one unified engine. The company envisions competing with global platforms like Twilio and ElevenLabs.
Prajapati dreams of building TingTing into a global company from Kathmandu.
“If the world is truly global, we should dare to build something world-changing from Kathmandu,” he said. “If it can be built in Bangalore, why not in Baneshwor?”
He concluded confidently: “If one day TingTing shuts down, it should impact the global communication system itself. That’s the level of ecosystem we aim to build.”
(Originally published in Nepali, This is the English translation. Click here for Nepali content. Parts of this text have been translated with the assistance of AI-powered tools.)
