Wireless Federation

Software giant to take sole control of MSN Israel; dissolves partnership with Internet Gold.
Microsoft is to take sole control of MSN Israel, the Internet portal it currently operates in partnership with Israeli ISP Internet Gold, the firms announced at the weekend. 

It seems that Microsoft will acquire Internet Gold’s 50.1% share in the venture for an undisclosed sum, to give it 100% ownership of the portal.

The companies did not publish further details, simply stating that they are currently “discussing the terms of migration and possible future cooperation”.

According to various local press reports, the transition will take place by October.

“We have been happy to partner with Microsoft in establishing MSN Israel over the last eight years,” Eli Holtzman, CEO of Internet Gold, said in a statement.

“Given the change in the parties’ online strategies we have agreed it makes sense for Microsoft to operate msn.co.il independently. We believe this is the right move for both parties and anticipate it will have a positive impact on our results,” he added.

Indeed, the move backs up Microsoft’s strategy of having majority control of all its MSN portals. MSN operates in 44 countries worldwide, and in most cases its local operations are 100%-owned by Microsoft.

“Our relationship with Internet Gold has worked well to establish strong foundations for our online business but both parties now feel that the time has come to operate independently to allow us both to deepen our impact on the Israeli market,” said Danny Yamin, general manager of Microsoft, Israel.

“We are very excited about our future in Israel and see some fantastic opportunities for growth and development of both the MSN portal and the Windows Live services,” he added.

Meanwhile, Internet Gold was keen to play down the importance of MSN Israel to its business, noting that the portal accounted for less than 3% of its total revenues last year.

Internet Gold reported revenues of 1.18 billion shekels (US$306 million) in 2007, up 188% on-year, although the bulk of that increase was attributable to the merger of 012 Golden Lines into the company’s Smile.Communications brand. On a pro forma basis, revenue growth was 6.6%. The company posted net income of 158 million shekels ($41 million), up from 26.3 million shekels in 2006.

012 Smile.Communications provides broadband and fixed-line services to business and consumer customers. Following its IPO in October 2007, Internet Gold owns 72.4% of 012 Smile.Communications.

Internet Gold’s portfolio of Internet portals and e-commerce sites, including MSN Israel, is held via its wholly-owned Smile.Media unit.

“During the last few years, the Internet Gold Group has significantly expanded its activities in a variety of communications areas and, as a result, our MSN Israel operations currently represent a minor portion of the group’s total revenues,” said Holtzman.

“Thus, we have decided recently to change course and seek alternatives for growth,” he concluded, adding that Internet Gold would seek opportunities “in and out of Israel”.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News

Internet charges to be folded into monthly price plans; fair usage policy applies.
Vodafone Thursday announced it is to begin bundling unlimited Internet access with its existing monthly tariffs in a bid to reduce the confusion over mobile data charging.

Until now Vodafone’s contract customers paid an additional fee of £7.50 for Internet access, but now it will be included as part of its existing price plans, which start at £25.

“Customers who select a £40 or higher price plan will also for the first time have the choice of unlimited texts, unlimited landline calls or unlimited Vodafone to Vodafone calls,” said the operator.

Vodafone said a fair usage policy of 500 megabytes per month applies, but pointed out that browsing 50 Web pages would only use on average approximately 1 megabyte.

According to the operator, streaming three 90 second video clips from YouTube would be equivalent to 4.5 megabytes.

Confusion over data pricing in the U.K. market has long been seen as a key barrier to the uptake of mobile Internet services.

Still, all of the country’s major mobile network operators (MNOs) have been working to clear up the confusion by launching their respective flat-rate data tariffs.

In the same announcement, Vodafone said the top five most viewed sites on its mobile Internet service are Facebook, Google, BBC, MSN and Bebo.

“Favourites for customers include quick access to Facebook, MySpace or Bebo to share pictures and news, YouTube to check out videos on the move, and fast connections to eBay to make that last minute bid,” said Vodafone.

Meanwhile comparison site Broadband Expert this week revealed that mobile broadband access speeds experienced by consumers are still slower than those advertised by operators.

Download speeds ranged from 2.3 Mbps on Vodafone to 1.1 Mbps on T-Mobile, and 1 Mbps for 3UK customers, said Broadband Expert in a statement.

“Vodafone clocked by far the fastest download speeds, though advertising for their latest offering promises much faster speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps,” the firm said.

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
 

Mobile display advertising is now available on MSN Mobile for the first time, Microsoft Corp. announced today. Starting today, MSN Mobile customers in the U.S. will begin to see banner and text ad placements that conform to the U.S. mobile advertising guidelines provided by the Mobile Marketing Association to deliver a more consistent and engaging experience for consumers. Paramount Pictures and Jaguar Cars North America are among the first companies to launch an MSN Mobile campaign in the U.S.
“Microsoft is continuing to make significant investments in the MSN Mobile portal, adding new services and content that enhance the mobile experience and make it one of the best in the industry,” said Joanne Bradford, corporate vice president and chief media officer of MSN. “By incorporating advertising on MSN Mobile, we are allowing advertisers to extend their existing campaigns from PCs to games and now to mobile phones, further delivering on our vision to extend advertising across multiple platforms and devices.”

Through technology created by Microsoft’s Advertiser & Publisher Solutions Group and by the acquisition of ScreenTonic SA, a leader in mobile advertising in Europe, MSN Mobile is now able to provide ad placements that optimize the customer experience and provide advertisers with a new way to reach out to the ever-growing number of mobile consumers. This announcement builds on Microsoft’s initial mobile display advertising offerings that are currently available in Belgium, France, Japan, Spain and the U.K.

“Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot are both innovation leaders in their own right, so when we partnered on the upcoming film ‘Cloverfield,’ we wanted to find cutting-edge ways to market the film,” said Amy Powell, senior vice president of Interactive Marketing at Paramount Pictures. “We released an exclusive film clip along with a contest whereby the person with the most clip views will be the first one to see the movie before its release on Jan. 18. We’re very excited to partner with MSN Mobile on this promotion because it extends our reach and connects us with our audience on an additional digital touch point.”

Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News Mobile Advertising

Global financial institution The London Stock Exchange (LSE) has appointed web search company InfoSpace to manage search across its websites

The two-year agreement sees The London Stock Exchange implement web search for the first time across its co.uk and com URLs. The web search will be powered by the InfoSpace private labelled service which combines the best results from all the major search engines through InfoSpace’s unique metasearch technology.

The London Stock Exchange can now enable its website users to search all the main engines simultaneously, including Ask.com, Google, MSN, Yahoo! and more from within their sites. This will ensure that more of their user requirements and expectations are met, thereby improving site loyalty and usage.

“The appointment by the London Stock Exchange demonstrates the commitment by well-established organisations to offer superior web search as part of their efforts to provide a comprehensive online experience for their audience,” said Dominic Trigg, vice president at InfoSpace Europe.

“This is the first heavy weight signing in the financial sector for InfoSpace and another highly reputable and well known brand.  Their sites are the first port of call for financial information and services for professionals.  We therefore welcome their decision to augment their offering with our powerful web search product,” adds John Thornhill, business development director at InfoSpace Europe.