Wireless Federation

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Celcom and Sybase 365 together to offer mobile money transfer service to its subscribers. The subscribers will be able to use their handsets to transfer money to fellow users, remit cash to other countries (initially Indonesia), and top up their mobile airtime. Users can also top up or withdraw money from their AirCash accounts at Celcom branches.

“We expect cross border remittance to appeal particularly to Malaysia’s migrant population who seek secure, instant and cost effective ways to send money home,” says Kevin Henry, Head, Business Innovation, Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad.

Celcom’s parent company Axiata is plans to launch the service in other countries in the region that have major remittance markets.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Celcom, the Malaysian mobile operator, has inked an agreement with XOX Com to offer services targeted at Chinese community in Malaysia specifically.
Celcom Chief Executive Officer, Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly said that the telco has not done as well as it would have liked in enticing subscribers from the Chinese community.
XOX is claimed to have done well with the demographic earlier as well.
The agreement aims for the advancement of both the firms. However, the exact details of the services will not be released until the next quarter, according to XOX President Ng Kok Heng. Though he only said that it would be related to Chinese content and language services.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Azercell Telecom Azerbaijani mobile operator has added Israel’s Pelephone and Russia’s Tele2 operators to its GPRS/MMS roaming service. This is third roaming agreement with Israel and the fifth one with Russia. Currently, Azercell subscribers benefit from the services of Partner and Celcom operators of Israel and Megafon, VimpelCom, MTS and NTC operators of Russia. Azercell Telecom has signed the GPRS/MMS roaming agreement with 180 network operators from 74 countries around the world.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Celcom Malaysia has introduced “New XPAX” prepaid plan which aims at youth which is looking for best valued prepaid service. The new plan will enable the subscribers to register 15 favourite numbers or “15pax” from all networks operating in the country. According to Celcom’s CEO Datuk Seri Shazalli Ramly, the development of the “New XPAX” plan is based on extensive research on the mobile behaviour of customers, mainly the youths.
“15pax” has the best flat call and SMS rates for as low as 12 sen/minute on voice calls, ½ sen/SMS within Celcom network and 6 sen/SMS to other networks, said Shazalli.
Other rates offered include video calls at only 30 sen/minute and MMS at 35 sen/MMS.
The new prepaid plan has a credit expiry period of two years, enabling the subscribers to keep their number active for two years without reloading their accounts.
“Following the youthful trend of constantly being on-the-go, the “New XPAX” plan allows customers to stay connected on the internet and enjoy unlimited surfing with the cheapest and fastest mobile broadband at only RM6 daily or RM20 weekly,” he said.

“The “New XPAX” appeals to our young customers in relevance to their specific tastes and lifestyle needs. Due to the uniqueness of this product, we remain a competitive player in the telecommunications industry,” said Shazalli.

The New XPAX’ subscribers will be offered free credit every month based on their usage frequency, enjoy birthday bonuses that include free calls and SMS to their “15pax” throughout their birthday week, and additional five days of coverage when they reload a minimum of RM10 within the week before their credit expires.
The “New XPAX” is available at a price of RM8.50 and comes with RM5 airtime.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Celcom Malaysia aims to double its BlackBerry subscriber base which stood at 16,000 by mid-2008. According to Cellcom’s Vice President (head of enterprise services) Farid Yunus, the company already have more than 50% of the market share of BlackBerry users, and that the trend is set to increase following its move to reduce business costs through services it provides. He further added that the corporate segment is willing to invest and expressed interest in these business services.
Meanwhile, the GM for Sabah region Mohammad Rozaidi Mohd Sharif said, the target is to add 1,000 new BlackBerry subscribers in Sabah in 2009, and they have already registered 300 new users, to date. For BlackBerry Storm, it intends to register 200-250 users out of the total target of new users this year.

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: XOX, the new entrant to the telecoms market, has introduced its 010 prepaid packages that are targeting the Chinese youth market.
XOX is a MVNO and operates on Celcom’s mobile network to offer full, reliable and affordable suite of mobile phone services to its subscribers, said Ng Kok Meng, XOX President.
The company plans to focus on contents such as Feng Shui, mobile games in Chinese and numerology.
The MVNO is offering competitive rates to reach out its target group. The prepaid package charges are as low as 20sen per minute for calls and 7sen for each SMS. While 3G and GPRS data connection is priced at 10sen for every 10KB. XOX prepaid starter pack is priced at RM8.80 and includes 1,200 free SMSes (within the same network) which is valid for a year, and RM5 airtime.
“We expect to get up to 200,000 activation by year end,” he said.

XIUS-bcgi, a leader in delivering innovative telecom solutions for mobile operators and MVNOs worldwide, and Tunetalk, Malaysia’s low-cost mobile phone operator, today announced that Tunetalk has chosen the XIUS-bcgi Mobile Services Platform (MSP) to power the launch and delivery of its paradigm-changing advertising supported, mobile phone service initially in Malaysia and subsequently to other countries in the ASEAN region.
XIUS-bcgi’s Mobile Services Platform is a next-generation convergent platform for Mobile Virtual Network Enablers (MVNEs), Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) and new entrants into mobile telecommunications space.
Tunetalk was co-founded by Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of the successful low cost airline, AirAsia. Key investors include TuneVentures group and Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad, a subsidiary of Axiata Group Berhad (Formally known as TM International Berhad). The company hopes to replicate the success of AirAsia in the mobile space by becoming the first pan-Asean MVNO by expanding to Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.
Tunetalk plans to provide attractively priced mobile services along with several value added features to create niche segment offerings.
The company has also established strategic relationships with retail partners for selling its MVNO services and for serving as end distribution points.
Tunetalk is launching on the Celcom network in Malaysia in 2009 and plans are underway for similar launches in 2010 in other countries in the region.
XIUS-bcgi will be responsible for the supply and turnkey management of the customized core network infrastructure for enabling Tunetalk’s mobile launch through its multi-country rollout.
Announcing the deal, G.V. Kumar, CEO of XIUS-bcgi, said, “XIUS-bcgi is very excited about the opportunity to work with such a pioneering organization as Tunetalk. The agreement is a clear demonstration and validation of the value and attractiveness of our Mobile Services Platform for innovative MVNOs aiming to acquire and support a large subscriber base within aggressive timelines.”
“XIUS-bcgi is clearly a leader in core network infrastructure for next-generation carriers looking to deploy innovative services, and we look forward to working with XIUS-bcgi and leveraging on their knowledge and experience in this area,” said Jason Lo, CEO of Tunetalk.
“We evaluated several service delivery alternatives and chose the MSP based on XIUS-bcgi’s proven performance and expertise in integrating and managing complex deployments. MSP will greatly enhance our capability to rollout innovative subscriber specific services, enabling us to concentrate on our core business. With XIUS-bcgi’s technology, Tunetalk will achieve flexibility in pricing, branding and service management across multiple network deployments.”
Added Upendra Bhatt, VP and Head of the Emerging Carriers SBU at XIUS-bcgi, “This is an important strategic win for XIUS-bcgi, as it extends the global reach of our Mobile Services Platform into ASEAN markets. The contract with Tunetalk is a multi-million dollar, multi-year agreement and entails delivery of carrier grade core network infrastructure on a turnkey basis to power Tunetalk launch.”

About Tunetalk

Tune Talk Sdn. Bhd. is the latest investment of Tune Ventures Sdn. Bhd. and formed to be the next Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in Malaysia. Having secured an MVNO agreement with Celcom (Malaysia) Bhd, Tune Talk is poised to launch in 2009.
Following the footsteps of Air Asia and other Tune Ventures, Tune Talk will revolutionize the industry with unique offerings and innovative value propositions. Tune Talk will focus on the underserved mass market in it’s aim to become the first Pan-ASEAN MVNO.

About XIUS-bcgi

XIUS-bcgi (a division of Megasoft Limited, BSE Code No.: 532408) is a leader in delivering innovative revenue-generating solutions to mobile operators and MVNOs worldwide. With 500+ employees, XIUS-bcgi architects infrastructure and mobile solutions that are flexible, scalable and robust - clearing the way for mobile operators to rapidly deliver differentiated services in order to gain first mover advantage and build subscriber loyalty. XIUS-bcgi has more than 100 installations throughout the world, and its customers include leading mobile operators such as Sprint, Telefonica, Etisalat, Embarq and Hutch. For more information, please visit www.xius-bcgi.com.

Azercell inks an international roaming agreement with the mobile operators in Lithuania and Malaysia. Azercell is reportedly in deal with Lithuania’s Tele-2 and Malaysia’ U-Mobile for international roaming. “This is our third roaming agreement with Lithuania and Malaysia,” Azercell reported.
Azercell subscribers at present enjoy the services of Lithuania’s Omnitel, Bite GSM and Malaysia’ Celcom and Maxis (MMSSB). Until now, Azercell Telecom has been in 366 roaming agreements with operators across 146 countries.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Celcom reports a rise of 11.1% to RM1.877 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at the end of 30th September 2008, in comparison to RM1.690 billion in 2007. The operator posts a rise of 9.9 per cent to RM4.135 billion in revenue from RM3.763 billion. The revenue growth is mainly due the company’s segmented marketing approach, particularly within the youth and Malay segments. He said its subscriber base also grew 23 % to 8.25 million despite the highly competitive environment after the introduction of Mobile Number Portability (MNP).
In context of MNP, he said Celcom planned to focus on enterprise segments, which was already showing an overwhelming response. “This is one area that we do well. We have also introduced a campaign for the enterprise segment,” he added. The launch of 1+5 campaign by the company in third quarter was a part among its strategies to increase subscriber base through MNP.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

NeuStar announced that it has been selected by Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad, a leading mobile communications provider in Malaysia, to deliver a range of “interconnect-ready” mobile Instant Messaging (IM) services to Celcom’s customers.
Using NeuStar’s market-leading suite of IM solutions and broad range of clients, Celcom’s customers will have instant access to Yahoo! Messenger from their mobile handsets so they can be online whenever they want. Further, Celcom’s own-branded IM service will allow subscribers to build their own IM communities and enable them to communicate over IM regardless of whether they are currently a member of any particular Internet IM community.
Celcom now will be able to extend interoperability to other operator networks in Malaysia using NeuStar’s Interconnect Platform (ICP) and Hub, thus enabling any mobile phone user in Malaysia to communicate with any mobile phone user through mobile IM. This supports the GSMA’s Personal IM initiative for operators to build on the success of SMS and create one interconnected global IM community.
Dato’ Sri Shazalli Ramly, chief executive officer at Celcom, said, “We saw a great opportunity in mobile IM, and our relationship with NeuStar has helped to make it a reality. Our customers enjoy IM on the PC, and we know they will enjoy being able to IM each other using their mobile phones regardless of what community they are in. NeuStar’s leading IM services and interconnect solutions are proven and scalable, and therefore we are confident our customers will have the best user experience. We are looking forward to making Malaysia the first country in Asia to enjoy full network-to-network mobile IM.”

Guenter Krauss, general manager of NeuStar Next Generation Messaging (NGM), said, “The success of SMS demonstrates that mobile IM will generate significant revenues, and an interconnected solution provides a wide opportunity for all operators to benefit. NeuStar’s vision is a world where everyone can instantly communicate, regardless of community, device, location, or network. The coming together of all operators in Malaysia will be a welcome development, and we are delighted that NeuStar’s market-leading solutions are making this happen.”

About NeuStar, Inc. and NeuStar Next Generation Messaging
NeuStar  provides market-leading and innovative services that enable trusted communication across networks, applications, and enterprises around the world.
For more information please log on to www.neustar.biz

About Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad
Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad is now the country’s most experienced and premier mobile cellular telecommunications company with 7.5 million customers. It currently has the widest network coverage covering 98% of the populated areas in the country. We were the first to launch the 3G service in Malaysia and have the widest 3G coverage in the country.
Celcom also offers international roaming service in 120 countries over 315 networks worldwide. It currently offers mobile telephony services in Malaysia for postpaid and prepaid products under the 019 and 013 access codes.

For more information please log on to www.celcom.com.my.

About Wireless Federation

Wireless Federation is an industry research conglomerate headquartered in London, United Kingdom. The mandate of the Wireless Federation is to provide its members and customers industry knowledge that can further enhance their understanding of the wireless industry. Wireless Federation conducts bespoke research and produces boxed reports in collabaration with Industry Bodies, Telecom Operators for Issues that revolve around ARPU, CHURN and Loyalty.
They have been associated with more than 225 mobile operators globally to set their Pricing/ Tariff Strategies, Go-To-Market Strategies for Mobile Advertising, Mobile Payments, Cutting VAS among others amongst 59 countries globally.

For more information please visit www.wirelessfederation.com

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News