The German fixed-line incumbent Bettercall launches its mobile services on minute-based tariff, a flat rate for calls to fixed networks, a flat rate for calls to mobile networks and a SMS flat rate as well as several combination tariffs.
The Bettercall Volume tariff will cost $5.07/month a charging a minute fee of $0.06 for calls made to German fixed networks, a minute fee of $0.11 for calls to Vodafone Germany customers and a minute fee of $0.12/min for calls to other German mobile operators.
Bettercall’s mobil Flat S tariff is available for $12.63 and includes free calls to other Bettercall customers. Bettercall’s mobil Flat M tariff is priced at $17.7/month including free calls to German fixed networks plus an on-net minute fee of EUR 0.05 and Bettercall mobil Flat L costs $18.96/month including free calls to Bettercall customers and German fixed networks.
Bettercall also offers a mobil Flat XL available for $25.28 offering same same conditions as Flat L plus free SMS sending to other Bettercall users. All tariffs are available for a minimum 2years of contract with a 3month notice period. All tariffs have a minimal contract time of 24 months with a 3 months notice period.
German telco, Deutsche Telekom, reportedly to place fixed and mobile operations into single management board section. The supervisory board will vote on the move, according to a report. One board member will now be responsible for the German fixed-line and mobile businesses. The restructuring accompanies the presumably certain appointment of board member Timotheus Hoettges to the position of chief financial officer to succeed Karl-Gerhard Eick, the report further reveals.
Silent Communication, a leading provider of real-time call management and visual voicemail applications on mobile handsets, together with Mauj, India’s leading mobile VAS enabler, announce the launch of TalkinSilent™ mobile suite with 5 of Indian’s leading mobile operators.
With the TalkinSilent™ suite, these mobile operators can now introduce their subscribers a new experience of communication. The TalkinSilent™ suite enables subscribers to answer incoming calls with prerecorded and personalized audio and SMS greetings and also to experience SMS exchanges in an “IM-like” chat.
This new experience generates mobile operators a revenue growth.
Since TalkinSilent™ is a server-less applications suite it requires no farther investment from the operator.
Max Bluvband, Silent Communication’s CEO says: “with TalkinSilent™ suite operators present their mobile subscribers with a complete different experience of managing calls and SMS. Intuitive and user-friendly clients encourage voice and data usages, therefore accelerate ARPU growth. TalkinSilent™ suite had already been launched and later embedded by Tier 1 European operator and is getting very positive feedbacks from European subscribers. Now, by launching TalkinSilent™ in India, we are happy to see that Indian operators and their subscribers benefit too.”
TalkinSilent™ suite is built as a complete server-less service allowing quick launch of fully labeled and tailored applications and revenue generation from day one. Thanks to the server-less architecture of the application, no additional capital expenditure is needed.
Mr. S. S. Sirohi, DDG VAS from BSNL comments: “By launching TalkinSilent™ suite branded as Call Manager App and customized in accordance with unique needs for Indian users, Indian mobile subscribers get enriched user experience of managing calls and SMS while the operator benefits from stronger brand perception associated with that experience. “
About Silent Communication:
Silent Communication is a leading provider of innovative client-based mobile solutions for Calls Management and Visual Voicemail. Flag products include TalkinSilent™ – Call Completion and Messaging solutions and Silent VVM™ – visual voicemail client supporting all handsets and all voicemail providers such as Comverse, Alcatel Lucent, Ericsson and more.
Silent Communication was established in 2004, got funded by private investors as well as Sequoia Capital VC.
For more information, please visit www.silentcom.com
About Mauj:
Mauj is one of the leading MVAS Company in India. Mauj’s wap portal wap.mauj.com is the leader in the mobile gaming, mobile music and Gprs/Edge/Wap space in India.
Mauj’s shortcode 7007 is one of India’s leading SMS portals. The company has one of the strongest management teams as well as infrastructure in this industry and employs approximately 150 people in its offices in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Dubai, London, and New York.
For more information, please visit www.mauj.com
Telefonica O2 Ireland has experienced a drop of 1.7% in service revenues to €227 million in the fourth quarter, in comparison with the same period a year ago. According to the company, monthly blended Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for the quarter declined to €42.60, down from €43.70 in the preceding three months and from €45.70 in the fourth quarter in 2007.
The incumbent added 14,589 subscribers and totals its subscriber base to 1.728 million. The subscriber base rose by 5% in comparison to last year. O2 Ireland subscribers sent 699 million text messages between October and December, up 73.9% compared with the same quarter in 2007. Monthly ARPU for post paid subscribers was €69.2.20, down from €72.20 on the comparable 2007 period for the quarter.
Paul Whelan, Chief Financial Officer Telefónica O2 Ireland, said trading conditions during the last quarter of 2008 had been difficult for all businesses including telecoms.
“Although we saw a slight decline in revenues, we continued to win customers in the marketplace, adding almost 15,000 new customers in the quarter, and 82,000 in total in 2008,” he said.
The company said data revenues continued to grow as a percentage of overall service revenues during the quarter, driven by growth in non-SMS revenues and now account for 8.3%.
The mobile subscriber base in Slovenia has surpassed the population of the country, reports the Agency for Post and Electronic Communications. According to the Slovenian Watchdog, the mobile penetration in the country has reached 100.1% in Q4′08, rising by 4.9% from 2007.
Mobitel, country’s largest mobile operator, lead the market with 58.9% of the market share, followed by Simobil which stood at 27.8% and Tusmobil at 5.8%.
Nearly 85,075 of mobile phoner numbers were ported in 2008, escalating by 30% since 2007.
China aims to have 100 million TD-SCDMA users in the next three years, with the figure reaching 10 million this year, revealed company’s top executives.
Lu Dongfeng, Vice-President of Datang Telecom Technology, the major provider of TD-SCDMA technology and products, said at an industry forum in Chongqing that China plans to have 100 million TD-SCDMA users by the end of 2011.
Lou Qinjian, Vice-Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said earlier that TD-SCDMA subscribers in China are expected to reach 10 million this year as China Mobile launches a TD-SCDMA service in 38 cities.
According to official statistics, China had 641 million mobile phone users by the end of last year. China Mobile said earlier that it planned to invest 58.8 billion yuan this year in developing TD-SCDMA, the country’s homegrown 3G standard.
NTT DoCoMo, the Japanese incumbent, has put a stop to the sales of RIM’s BlackBerry Bold in Japan as the phone reportedly, overheats while battery is being recharged.
DoCoMo has sold nearly 4,000 phones uptil now and around 30 users have filed a complaint that the handset’s keypad area heats up.
MTN Uganda has launched m-banking service, enabling its subscribers to transfer money using their mobile phones. MTN Uganda CMO Isaac Nsereko said they have over 600 transaction points across the country where money can be sent or received and the service will work across networks. The subscriber have to open a mobile account with MTN at any of the company’s dealers to transfer money. Customers are given a secret code when they send money, and they are required to send that code to the recipient for presentation at payments points. Zain is anticipated to launch its Zap service in Uganda soon.
Extelcom, the Philippines based operator has requested to, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), for additional frequencies, as it intends to re-enter the Filipino mobile market as a GSM player. According to Extelcom director Luisito Sapiera, the telco plans to utilise its existing frequency allocation in the 880MHz-890MHz frequency band, together with its paired link, the 925MHz-935MHz frequency band, which it is asking from the NTC. ‘The history of Philippine telecoms regulation has always shown that the entry of new, active players had always redounded to the considerable benefit of the Filipino consumers,’ Sapiera said, adding that ‘Extelcom is prepared to play a dynamic part in the next phase of the industry’s growth.’