Wireless Federation

Thanks to its One Region One Rate roaming scheme, all du mobile subscribers can enjoy calling local numbers and receiving calls at just AED 1.25 per minute, while roaming in the GCC region.

The unified rates come into effect immediately without any extra charges and will be available by default to all du customers while they roam in the GCC region. du mobile customers can choose any telecom operator during roaming in the GCC while still benefitting from this attractive scheme.

Farid Faraidooni, EVP Commercial, du, said, “The unified roaming tariff is a reflection of our commitment to simplify the lives of our customers. It means our customers no longer need to keep track of the various complicated roaming charges used in the GCC region.”

Further, the rates are attractive and affordable for all customers roaming in the GCC. Faraidooni said: “Roamers will enjoy low and attractive rates which makes roaming simple and affordable.”

After having launched the Haj roaming promotion which provides the benefit of free incoming calls to its mobile subscribers roaming in Saudi Arabia during the Holy period of Haj, du introduces another breakthrough innovation in the international roaming services.

While roaming in the GCC, du Monthly Plan subscribers can make and receive calls, send and receive SMS and MMS, access high speed mobile internet, use BlackBerry services and video calling.

While roaming on any operator in the GCC, du Pay as You Go ® and Visitor Mobile Line subscribers can receive voice calls and send and receive SMS. Outgoing voice calls are also available in all GCC countries with selected operators.

One region, One rate charges

• AED 1.25 per minute for local calls and any incoming call (except Haj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia who will enjoy free incoming calls till 20th December 2008)

• AED 3 per minute for calls to UAE numbers

• AED 1 per SMS

• AED 9.0 per minute for all other outgoing calls

• AED 1 per 50 KB of data usage

For more information please visit www.du.ae

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 on “Innovative Pricing Structures; Plans and Tariffs”; please write back to Christina@WirelessFederation.com or call on +44(0) 208 1800 384

For Further information please visit www.wirelessfederation.com

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Smart Communications & Rural Bankers’ Association of the Philippines (RBAP) are in an agreement, aiming to liberalize access to the Smart Money Platform, allowing financial transactions at the speed of a text message. This enables rural bank depositors and borrowers to use their Smart SIM cards for payments and loan disbursement, among others. Smart head for services hub Reynante Banico, said, “By sealing this partnership, RBAP member rural banks now join the ranks of our esteemed Smart Money partners, allowing them to reach over 34 million Smart subscribers; to connect to the country’s more than 7,000 automated teller machines; and to access more than 100 Smart Wireless Centers and thousands of MasterCard and Smart Money fulfilment partners across the country and all over the world.” RBAP-member banks all over the country will be accredited as Smart Money Centers, allowing them to convert electronic cash from their Smart Money wallet into physical cash, or the other way round.
“By liberalizing access to Smart’s tried and tested mobile commerce innovations and solutions, we are optimistic that our partnership will enable us to reach out to more unbanked and underbanked Filipinos in the countryside, and even around the world,” Smart Chief Wireless Advisor Orlando Vea said.
“The RBAP welcomes this partnership with Smart as it will provide RBAP and our member rural banks with more and better opportunities to enhance our services to our clientele. Smart’s advanced mobile commerce technology combined with RBAP’s strong countryside network, will provide our customers with a fast, secure, and efficient way of transmitting funds anytime, anywhere,” RBAP President Tomas Gomez IV said.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Western Union has initiated piloting a mobile money transfer scheme for Phillipino workers in Hawaii and the United Arab Emirates, both countries with significant financial flows to the Philippines, where many users’ handsets are equipped with mobile wallet capabilities. The uniqueness of this trial is the degree to which the Philippines has retail and business structure where m-wallets can be used. Almost 6000 locations around the country can transact in this way.

The process is as follows:
•   On the Hawaiian/UAE side, senders simply give cash at the test locations in UAE and Hawaii
•   Western Union then encodes and sends transactions to recipients back in the Philippines.
•   Recipients can choose to transact directly from their m-wallets or convert stored credit into cash at    participating stores.
However, senders still need to visit particular locations, recipients are now freed from transacting at a limited number of outlets.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Citi and Firethorn Holdings, a Qualcomm company, introduced Citi Mobile for Cards, an advanced mobile solution that allows Citi credit card customers to securely access real-time credit card account information on their mobile phones.
Citi Mobile for Cards is now available to AT&T subscribers as part of AT&T Mobile Banking, and to Verizon Wireless customers who download and use the free mobile banking application on Get It Now, the company said.
“Citi’s goal is to be everywhere our customers need us to be and interact with them however they choose - in person, online, while in transit or on their mobile phone. Citi Mobile for Cards is a testament to how Citi is innovating with mobile phone-based financial services to provide new experiences for customers,” said Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing officer, Citi Global Cards. “By collaborating with best in class technology provider Firethorn, Citi Mobile for Cards is uniquely positioned to meet our cardmembers’ demands for fast, secure, on-the-go account management through their mobile phones.”
Eric Bruno, senior vice president for consumer products at Verizon, said, “In these trying economic times, many customers want immediate access to their account information. By enabling Citi Cards within mobile banking, consumers get another useful tool in taking control over their financial lives. This is a big step forward for our shared customers.”
“This addition to our mobile banking solution gives shared AT&T and Citi customers simplicity and convenience in getting real-time information about their credit card accounts–and right as the holiday shopping season swings into gear,” said Mark Collins, vice president of Voice and Data Services for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets.
Firethorn chief executive officer, Tripp Rackley adds, “We are very pleased to be working with Citi, AT&T and Verizon Wireless to offer their customers a cutting-edge mobile solution. Firethorn’s commitment to the future of mobile commerce will extend the convenience and simplicity of the mobile device to Citi cardmembers nationwide.”

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 log on to www.wirelessfederation.com

Cellular South today announced that it will provide mobile banking services to customers who bank with Regions Bank , one of the nation’s largest providers of consumer and commercial banking services. The new mobile service will bring the convenience, flexibility and security of online banking to Regions’ customers’ wireless phones.

Cellular South, the nation’s largest privately owned wireless carrier, now offers the free wireless mobile banking application to customers who bank with Regions and eight other Mid-South financial institutions, including BancorpSouth, SunTrust, USAA, Wachovia, Trust One, Coastal Bank and Trust, Vanguard and Bank of Pensacola in the Mid-South region.

The mobile banking application is available on both cell phones and BlackBerry devices, including the Curve, the Pearl and the World Edition. The service allows individuals who are customers of both Cellular South and participating banks to view account balances and history, transfer funds and pay bills from their mobile handsets through a secure, PIN-protected gateway.

“More and more of our wireless customers are demanding mobile banking services, and we are pleased that we can now offer the application to our customers who bank with Regions,” said Cellular South President Hu Meena. “Across the industry, people are realizing that mobile banking gives them the flexibility to pay bills, transfer funds and make financial decisions, anywhere, anytime.”

A recent Harris Interactive study revealed that consumer demand for mobile banking among wireless customers is continuing to grow, as 16 percent of U.S. adults say they already use the services, and another 35 percent report that they are open to checking bank account balances and transferring funds via their mobile phones, smart phones or PDAs.

To use Cellular South’s mobile banking feature, customers must have an account with a participating bank, such as Regions, and must enable online access to their account, a free feature at most banks. Users who sign up for Cellular South’s mobile banking receive a secure initialization code and can access and monitor multiple bank accounts from the same application and PIN.

“We’re pleased to work with wireless carriers like Cellular South to bring mobile banking to our customers,” said David Rupp, Regions senior executive vice president for consumer services. “Managing bank accounts from a wireless device fits the busy lifestyle that many of us share and it will make banking more convenient for Regions and Cellular South customers.”

Cellular South has been a leader in wireless communications for 20 years. Offering exceptional service and a suite of mobile commerce applications to customers across the Southeast, Cellular South continues to make the wireless lifestyle easily accessible. Mobile banking will provide yet another innovative mobile commerce solution for Cellular South customers.

For more information on Cellular South mobile banking, visit http://www.cellularsouth.com/mobilebanking. For a list of mobile devices that support Regions mobile banking, visit http://www.regions.com/mobilebanking.

About Cellular South

Cellular South is a privately-owned diversified mobile communications company passionately committed to helping customers get the most out of their wireless devices and services. The company accomplishes this goal by providing the most reliable and advanced 3G nationwide wireless voice and data network, offering industry-leading unlimited flat rate plans, and through its online and in-store Discover Centers, which give customers easy, simple and convenient tools, tips, advice and information on how to get the most out of their mobile phone. For more information, visit http://www.cellularsouth.com.

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 log on to www.wirelessfederation.com

ClairMail, Inc., the leader in 2-way mobile phone-based customer interaction, today announced that PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (PNC) expanded its mobile banking services by integrating ClairMail’s comprehensive mobile banking solution. The breakthrough ClairMail System leverages any mobile phone’s existing text messaging (SMS — short message service) software and capabilities; no new mobile phone software is required. As a result of the ClairMail System’s modular design and complete mobile banking services, PNC now enables its customers to conveniently access their accounts using virtually any mobile communications device — regardless of manufacturer, model, operating system or wireless carrier.
The ClairMail System also provides the application intelligence and delivery mechanism for sending numerous security-related alerts to PNC customers, including alerts for when a user ID, password, security question or contact information (e.g. address, telephone, number or e-mail address) is changed. Additional alerts will be available to PNC customers in the future, including alerts when an overdraft occurs or when a balance falls below a customer-defined amount.
The ClairMail System incorporates a powerful Event Engine that can easily handle the potential transaction volumes from banks of any size and deliver alerts in real-time. ClairMail will collaborate with PNC to augment PNC’s offering with more alerts and other mobile banking functionality over time.
“A mobile banking solution should be available to all bank customers and provide both account information and security alerts,” said Thomas S. Kunz, senior vice president, director of e-Business for PNC. “By leveraging the existing text messaging on all mobile phones and delivering security alerts via the ClairMail solution, PNC is providing convenient, secure and on-demand mobile banking services to our customers.”
“ClairMail is privileged to partner with PNC to give their customers secure, 24/7 account access and dynamic, real-time security alerts,” said Joseph Salesky, CEO of ClairMail. “PNC customers will benefit from our complete mobile banking services on any mobile phone, using the text messaging functionality they are already familiar with.”
ClairMail was recently recognized as a leader in the mobile banking and payments industry by TowerGroup, a financial services research firm. ClairMail was positioned as having the highest strategic extensibility of any vendor and one of the best market execution ratings given its recently announced partnerships with Fidelity National Information Services and WAUSAU and agreements reached with major customers in the United States.

About ClairMail

ClairMail is the only comprehensive 2-way mobile platform for banking, payments and card services. Deployed either on-premise or as a managed service, ClairMail optimizes any mobile phone for 2-way customer interaction. Only the ClairMail System offers 2-way mobile banking, payments and card applications that utilize any phone’s existing messaging and mobile web software and extend the capabilities of third-party client applications. On one platform with a single implementation, ClairMail empowers financial institutions to generate and deliver 2-way Actionable Alerts to their customers and provide easy and immediate account management, secure transactions and no-hold customer service. Unlike other 1-way, proprietary and inflexible point solutions which lack the application intelligence to generate 2-way alerts, the ClairMail 2-way System is a turnkey, standards-based 2-way offering that seamlessly and securely integrates with existing systems, delivers the fastest time to value and provides an alternative to more costly channels like call centers and IVR. Founded
in 2004, ClairMail is headquartered in Novato, Calif. The company is privately held and funded by Norwest Venture Partners, Outlook Ventures and JAFCO Ventures. For more information visit www.clairmail.com.
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 log on to www.wirelessfederation.com

The GSMA has asked handset manufacturers to incorporate NFC functionality into mobile handsets so that consumers can get the benefit of mobile payment services as soon as possible. Chief Marketing Officer, Michael O’Hara, suggested that handset manufacturers must make such phones available in the market by the middle of next year. “This will require device manufacturers to make sure that the vast majority of commercially available handsets incorporate the Single Wire Protocol (SWP) and Near Field Communications (NFC) features as standard,” said GSMA’s CEO Rob Conway.

A number of operator pilots have demonstrated that consumers can safely use the technology. Across eight countries trials have been run involving nine mobile operators. Further pilots are planned across 14 countries by 15 mobile operators. According to a report, it is forecasted that mobile money transfer and NFC transactions may account for 50 percent of the global mobile payment market by 2013. The GSMA has also advised phone makers  to adopt the Single Wire Protocol standard, which involves a direct connection between an embedded NFC chipset and a SIM card. In Japan, making payments through mobile is very popular, where carrier NTT DoCoMo dominates the market.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Vodafone and Research In Motion announced the availability of the BlackBerry Storm smartphone in the Dutch market. Purpose built for Vodafone and delivering the renowned functionality of the BlackBerry solution, the BlackBerry Storm brings entertainment, information and communications to the tips of your fingers and incorporates the world’s first ‘clickable’ touch-screen. The beautifully designed BlackBerry Storm is available for free on a 24 month contract in Vodafone stores from November 24th 2008.

The BlackBerry Storm is a perfect choice for both consumers and business users looking for a state-of-the-art multimedia device that makes a statement in the office and out on the town. The stylish smartphone boasts exceptional performance, a stunning display and rich features including 3G (HSPA) network support, GPS, desktop-style web pages, advanced multimedia, a first class phone, camera and robust messaging capabilities – all designed to give users a fast and powerful mobile experience.

The BlackBerry Storm smartphone’s revolutionary SurePress touch-screen, which depresses ever so slightly when the screen is pressed, dramatically enhances the touch interface for both typing and navigation. The virtual keyboard on the BlackBerry Storm responds much like a physical keyboard to allow easy and precise typing and the interface also supports single-touch, multi-touch and gestures for intuitive and efficient navigation. The BlackBerry Storm can be used in portrait or landscape mode thanks to its built-in orientation sensor (accelerometer). When in portrait mode, users can type out a quick instant message or dial a number using either RIM’s SureType keyboard system or a 12-key multi-tap keyboard layout. When the handset is rotated to landscape, the user is presented with a full QWERTY keyboard.

Whether shopping for a gift online, editing important documents or reading a map, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone brings images to life with stunning clarity through its gorgeous 3.25-inch, high resolution (480×360-pixels at 184ppi), colour display. A multimedia powerhouse, the BlackBerry Storm has a built in media player that handles a number of music formats. It can even be synchronised with iTunes to enjoy music on the move or synced wirelessly via Bluetooth to the BlackBerry® Remote Stereo Gateway to enjoy songs through a home stereo. It features a 3.2 megapixel camera with variable zoom, auto focus and a powerful flash that also provides continuous lighting when recording video, and through its integrated GPS, the BlackBerry Storm smartphone can pinpoint its exact location, supporting the geotagging of pictures and applications like BlackBerry® Maps as well as other location-based applications and services.

Preloaded with a variety of powerful applications that were custom-built for the BlackBerry platform, the BlackBerry Storm from Vodafone enables the user to simply and easily keep web community pages current, continue instant message chats or even add pictures directly to Flickr.

For more information please log on to www.vodafone.in
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 log on to www.wirelessfederation.com

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

The cost of transferring money is swiftly dropping in Kenya as service providers jostle for the millions of shillings in the pockets of people without bank accounts. The race to offer financial services to the unbanked  is taking up shape on two fronts. There is the battle for control of the huge volumes of remittances that migrant workers send to their unbanked dependants and there is the race to use the mobile phone technology to hook Kenya to the global money transfer network. Over the past two years, the mobile phone has become the top channel for money transfers in Kenya, giving a slow global financial services business a new lease of life  expected to remain the driving force in the next decade. But as the business of money transfer goes electronic, local mobile phone firms are keenly monitoring global financial service providers’ moves in the market.

To Learn more on Best Practices of Mobile Money - Banking, Remittances, Transfers, Commerce and Payments for African Operators, Write to Christina@WirelessFederation.com

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Regions Financial Corp., on of the  largest bank in Alabama, operates 86 branches in the Birmingham-Hoover metro area, has instigated mobile banking program to offer mobile banking services to its customers. The customers can view their accounts, transfer funds, make payments and check balances on their mobile devices with this service. The bank said that AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Cellular South and Alltel Wireless are among the wireless carriers that are attuned with Regions’ mobile banking program.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News