Eagle Mobile, the newest Albanian mobile operator, has announced a radical increase in completed calls since the launch of Auto-Voice-SMS on its network across Albania. The Auto-Voice-SMS solution has been sourced from Kirusa, the vendor of Voice SMS and developer of mobile Value-Added Services. Eagle Mobile has now launched Auto-Voice-SMS across Albania.

Kirusa’s describes Auto-Voice-SMS as a “must-have” service for carriers to increase call completion and customer satisfaction. It is a service that “completes the call in all inevitable situations like getting a busy tone, phone not being answered or rejected by a recipient, out of coverage, or network congestion.”

When a caller does not get through to the dialed number, he or she has the option of leaving a Voice SMS while being on the same call. Once the caller leaves a Voice SMS, the recipient will immediately get an SMS notification of the Voice SMS message. Eagle callers and callers from other mobile operators in Albania, as well as international callers, can leave Auto Voice SMS messages for Eagle subscribers. Eagle subscribers can retrieve the messages directly from the SMS, and can also reply to the message with voice.

Kirusa Auto-Voice-SMS was made available to Albanian subscribers in January. In the short period of one month, the service has been adopted by more than 22% of Eagle subscribers.

For carriers who adopt Auto Voice SMS there is an increase in ARPU: revenue generated from calls that would otherwise not be completed. There is also an increase in customer satisfaction through customer stickiness and word of mouth growth.

Commenting on the launch, Alban Tartari, Head of Public & Media Relations Department of Eagle Mobile Albania, said, “When one subscriber calls another, he or she has a compelling reason to communicate his or her thoughts. Kirusa Auto-Voice-SMS facilitates the sender to communicate in real-time despite not being able to reach the other party. At the same time, the process for the recipient to listen and reply to the message is very easy. Our subscribers find Kirusa Auto-Voice-SMS a great value-add to their communication need. Kirusa was chosen for this product as Voice SMS from Kirusa has been receiving an overwhelming response from our subscribers since its launch.”

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Inderpal Singh Mumick, CEO and Founder of Kirusa, said, “We are delighted with the successful adoption of Kirusa Auto-Voice-SMS by the Eagle Mobile subscribers.” He further added, “Kirusa continues to innovate and bring to market new Mobile Value-Added Services (MVAS) that generate revenue for our customers. The successful adoption of Auto Voice SMS by Eagle subscribers is another validation of the value Kirusa provides to its customers.”

* Eagle Mobile is the youngest mobile operator in Albania. It was established in 2003 by the Albanian government as a company owned by Alb Telecom. Eagle Mobile broke a record by entering the Albanian telecommunication market in March 2008, the company reaching full coverage of the territory in six months. Eagle Mobile as of end-2008 covered 97% of the population and 90.7% of Albania. One year after entering the market, Eagle Mobile has reached 380 thousand subscribers, and is roaming in 200 countries with nearly 400 operators.

more info:

• www.kirusa.com
• www.eaglemobile.al

Out There Media has signed an agreement with VimpelCom, an  international provider of telecommunications services operating in Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and South-East Asia. Within the framework of the agreement, Out There Media will enable VimpelCom to offer targeted mobile advertising through Mobucks, its multi-channel mobile advertising market-place technology. In addition, Out There Media is also responsible for monetisation, sales, business development and operations support.

After careful analysis, Out There Media was determined to be the partner to fulfill VimpelCom’s business needs. The two companies have imminent plans to roll out a range of mobile advertising commercial pilot projects in Russia this year, using WAP, SMS, MMS and USSD-channels (VimpelCom has a total subscriber base of 64 million, including 51 million in Russia.)

The partnership will be the first to use the newest version of the Out There Media multi-channel mobile advertising marketplace technology, Mobucks 2.5, which will be released shortly. Integrating the advertising solution with advanced-permission marketing capabilities, Mobucks 2.5 presents "significant new advantages" such as the large diversity of advertising channels, the collection of targeted data across all channels, and efficient cross-channel user segmentation and targeting.

Commenting on the partnership announcement, Kerstin Trikalitis, CEO of Out There Media, said: "We are very pleased to be expanding our reach to Russia in collaboration with a leading mobile operator such as VimpelCom. We believe that Russia is an exciting market with tremendous potential and we are looking forward to working with VimpelCom to design and run award-winning Mobile Advertising campaigns".

* Out There Media is headquartered in Vienna, has subsidiaries in Athens, Los Angeles, Kiev, Sofia and Singapore, and partnership agreements with 17 network operators across 16 countries. It reaches over 184 million subscribers (70 million exclusive) via its mobile advertising marketplace, Mobucks. Mobucks is a cross-operator, cross-advertiser marketplace that matches demand and supply for advertising over mobile telephones.

** VimpelCom comprises telecoms operators providing voice and data services through a range of mobile, fixed and broadband technologies. The Group includes companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia, as well as in Vietnam and Cambodia. VimpelCom has licences to operate in territories with a total population of about 340 million, providing services under the Beeline brand.. VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VIP.

more info:

• www.out-there-media.com
• www.vimpelcom.com

MoreMagic Solutions International Recharge Hub leverages an extensive network of hundreds of thousands of retail locations in the United States, where customers can send airtime to Movistar customers in Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru.

“Movistar customers are asking friends and family throughout the world to help them stay connected in a cost-effective and convenient way, and we are pleased to work with MoreMagic Solutions to meet their needs,” said Jaime Grau, Transactional Services Director at Telefónica Latinoamérica.  “In communities throughout the United States, customers can purchase a gift of airtime at their neighborhood convenience store, or via the internet at etopuponline.com, and the Movistar mobile phone back home is immediately credited.”

 “Mobile customers throughout Latin America are asking friends and family to try out international recharge, knowing that a gift of airtime is affordable and that the airtime is immediately available,” said Pankaj Gulati, chairman and CEO, MoreMagic Solutions.  “MoreMagic Solutions is pleased to work with Telefónica to enable gifts of airtime for Movistar mobile phones is so many countries, sent from our extensive network of stores, or our internet portal, etopuponline.com.”

More info:

• www.telefonica.com
• www.moremagic.com

Critical Path surveyed seven countries to gauge the social networking habits of consumers in Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Northern Europe as part of a continuing series of global consumer research initiatives. Almost half (46%) of the respondents are dissatisfied with their devices’ facility to share contact information, with only 36% of respondents always updating changes to contact information across each of their social address books. Most (57%) consumers are frustrated with the process of informing people about a change in their contact details, while approximately two thirds find integrating other people’s changes into their various address books even more frustrating.

Out of the 3,500 respondents surveyed: 

• 94% would like to be able to update all of their contacts with new contact information automatically
• 96% would like the option to back up and restore address book information
• 95% want choice over the types of updates they receive from social networking sites
• 49% of consumers would be willing to pay for a service that updates and manages contacts and social networks in one place

 “Our latest research shows social networks are becoming increasingly important in consumers’ daily online interactions”, says Mark Palomba, CEO Critical Path. “While user preferences vary from region to region, there is a clear demand for an intuitive solution that unifies fragmented contact information across social networks.”

Country specific statistics: 

Latin America 

• 81% of respondents from Brazil would pay €2 per month for a service which allowed them to update and manage all of their contacts and social networking updates
• 94% of respondents from Brazil would like to use a service which allows them to receive updates from all social networking sites in one place
• 94% of respondents from Argentina would like a service to protect their address book information by backing up all the data so it can be restored quickly and easily to the mobile

 Asia-Pacific 

• 75% of respondents from China said they would be willing pay for a service that allowed them to update and manage all of their contacts and social networking updates
• Indian respondents are split on willingness to pay, with 33% preferring a one-time fee of €5 and a per sync fee of €0.5…
• …While 44% of respondents from India would prefer to pay €2 per month for unlimited synchronisation

Northern Europe 

• Only 26% of respondents from the Czech Republic always update contact information across each of their social address books
• 81% of respondents from Poland place affordability as a high priority when looking at features of a possible service

 About the research

The research was carried out online by Vanson Bourne during December 2009 amongst a nationally representative sample of 3,500 consumers across Latin America, AsiaPac and Northern Europe, aged 16+. The consumers were from seven countries: Brazil, Argentina, China, Hong Kong, India, Poland and Czech Republic.

More info:

• www.criticalpath.net.

With 39% of callers returning to the service, BBC Janala has outperformed the majority of other value added mobile products in Bangladesh which typically achieve a 5% return of customers.  The beginner’s content is experiencing a 69% repeat rate. To date 1,030,583 lessons have been accessed, with users engaging with Janala’s interactive services - including audio quizzes, English story recording and direct feedback - an additional 130,000 times.

Part of its success is the price, with the BBC teaming up with all of Bangladesh’s mobile operators to offer a national service at half the cost of a typical call or SMS - just 1 Taka (1 pence) a minute. Learning has also surged online at bbcjanala.com, where a virtual community, already with over 17,000 registered users, has been able to access content for free and interact with learners around the world.
Sara Chamberlain, Head of Interactive for the BBC World Service Trust speaking at the GSMA World Mobile Congress in Barcelona said: “We knew demand for English was strong in Bangladesh, but the response to BBC Janala has been nothing short of phenomenal.  The growth of mobile is clearly creating an opportunity to provide access to education in a way simply not possible before.”

BBC Janala is aimed at younger people living on less than £2 a day, who have missed out on decent English teaching at school and are not able to afford expensive tuition. Many within the mobile industry are watching to see if BBC Janala can provide one of the first economically viable models for educational learning technology in the developing world.
Dawn Haig-Thomas, Development Fund Director, GSMA explains: "BBC Janala delivers education in a remarkable way.  Mobile is the most ubiquitous communications platform and an incredibly innovative tool. By providing tangible, accessible and necessary mobile services to people in developing countries, mobile can help improve people’s lives.”
A BBC survey found 84% of Bangladeshis consider English essential to securing a good job and educating their children, suggesting the service has the potential to support significantly more learners.
The project is funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) through English in Action, a major educational initiative launched to raise the language skills of 25 million people in Bangladesh by 2017.