Spice Telecom has launched a new service called "Spice Local Lingo", which allows users send SMS in 12 Indian languages.

The service was launched yesterday by Bollywood actor and Spice brand ambassador, Priyanka Chopra, at an event in Bangalore.

"Spice Local Lingo", a messaging service, allows users to send and receive SMS in 12 Indian languages. The service allows customers to choose between Kannada, Hindi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marati, Assamese, Gujarati, Bengali, and Urdu.

The service can be downloaded on all Java-enabled phones. Any subscriber with a GPRS connection can download "Spice Local Lingo" from the Spice Portal at http://wap.spicetete.com. Alternatively, they can SMS the keyword 'SLL' to 56199, and get the URL for download.

At a separate event in Mumbai yesterday, Spice Telecom (Punjab) launched a service christened "Spice TV" that gives Spice subscribers in Punjab (post-paid and prepaid) an opportunity to watch live Cricket on their mobiles.

"Spice TV", which was unveiled by former cricketers, Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul-Haq, will enable subscribers in Punjab to choose from a bouquet of 13 channels across genres, which include the likes of NDTV, Times Now, Zoom, Bindaas, and Cartoon Network, among others.

To access "Spice TV", subscribers in Punjab need to dial *789#, or send 'SPICETV' as SMS to 50789 to activate the service. Once the URL is received, users can install the SpiceTV application on their handsets, open it, and opt for the pack they wish to subscribe.

"Spice TV" is currently supported by over 50 mobile handsets from Nokia, Sony Ericsson, etc.