Qubee launches discount promotion (Pakistan)
Qubee has launched a reward program for its users, giving them the opportunity to avail a 20% discount on their monthly bill for 3 months.
According to Chief Marketing Officer, Hashim Sheikh, Qubee believe in promotions and features that add value to daily Qubee experience.
To avail this discount, all a customer has to do is refer a friend to Qubee with his or her given Qubee account number and they will automatically be entitled to the mentioned discount. Sheikh also mentioned that the promotion will conclude on April 18, 2011.
Vodafone Ghana appoints two new top management officials
Vodafone has appointed Uche Ofodile as the new Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Marc Norris as the new Commercial Director in a move to create the best customer experience in Ghana.
Uche was the head of Strategy and Brand department at Vodafone Ghana until her new appointment.
As per the company, Uche as CMO would be responsible for developing consumer marketing strategy and planning, generating deep customer insight, handling corporate communications and brand positioning and management. Her department will help drive sales promotions, advertising and go-to-market strategies.
Prior to joining Vodafone Ghana, Uche spent over six years in Nigeria working in various senior leadership roles in the telecommunications industry. She worked for Econet Wireless (now Airtel) and MTS First Wireless. She was also the media spokesperson and Marketing Director for Nurtricima Ltd where she led product innovation and marketing communication.
Uche has a B.A. in Political Science and recently completed a diploma in Strategic Marketing from Columbia Business School.
The new Commercial Director, Marc Norris, joined Vodafone in 2009 as a part of the Senior Management Team assigned to transform Ghana Telecom into Vodafone Ghana.
He previously served as the Director of Consumer Fixed, responsible for the broadband & fixed voice businesses.
Prior to joining Vodafone, Marc was the CEO of Oplayo Oy, GM of Consumer BT and GM of One.Tel.
Marc has also held senior operational/general management positions in the internet & telecoms sectors.
He has worked in the international telecom sector for 22 years specifically in Australia, Hong Kong, The Netherlands, France, UK, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Finland and Ghana.
According to Vodafone Ghana CEO, Kyle Whitehill, they are pleased to have Uche and Marc on board in their respective new positions. Vodafone believed their experiences would be invaluable to the company as it builds a stronger relationship with its Ghanaian customers and moves closer to their goal of becoming the telecommunications provider of choice in Ghana.
Vodafone launches Wi-Fi device in India
Vodafone Essar has launched its mobile Wi-Fi device, Vodafone R201 in India at the price of US$121.62
Vodafone R201 is a portable mobile Wi-Fi terminal which can be used by five users simultaneously to connect to Vodafone’s 3G network. It is designed to provide customers with an advantage of connecting and communicating on-the-go.
According to Vodafone Essar Chief Marketing Officer, Kumar Ramanathan, as a result of their innovation effort,Vodafone is introducing an exciting range of products to let their customers experience 3G services at its best.
According to the company, R201 uses a SIM slot to connect to Vodafone’s 3G network and five users can then connect their computers, mobile gaming devices or digital music players to the device over Wi-Fi network to enjoy 3G speeds. The device comes with a battery life of up to 4 hours and can offer 3G internet services on the go at a download speed of up to 7.2 megabyte per second on HSDPA (high-speed downlink packet access) enabled devices.
MTN launches borderless roaming across five countries (South Africa)
South Africa’s MTN has launched borderless roaming across five countries where it has subsidiaries – Botswana, Rwanda, Uganda, Swaziland and Zambia. The service applies to both prepaid and contract customers.
According to Serame Taukobong, Chief Marketing Officer at MTN South Africa, they realize that sometimes their customers do not want to roam or even receive incoming calls due to the costs associated with doing so. Now, with free incoming calls on offer, MTN is empowering its customers to roam with ease.
In addition, MTN’s roaming prepaid customers will be able to top-up their prepaid phones with locally purchased airtime cards.
He added that they now offer their customers another seamless way of maintaining their mobile lifestyles and encourage them to keep their phones switched on while out of the country. This will ensure they remain constantly in touch with their businesses and close contacts.
Keith Pardy leaves CMO post (Canada)
Research In Motion’s Chief Marketing Officer, Keith Pardy is leaving the company. Keith Pardy’s departure comes as the company gets ready to launch its PlayBook tablet computer.
A Wi-Fi-only version of the gadget is expected soon, followed in the summer by one that works on high-speed cellular data networks, including Sprint Nextel’s. The PlayBook is geared toward business users and will include a smaller touchscreen than Apple Inc.’s iPad has.
The company stated that personal reasons spurred Pardy to leave, but he will continue to work with them for six months to help with the transition.
MTS, Tata DOCOMO launch special offers for World Cup
With the upcoming Cricket World Cup, telecom companies are coming up with new offers to attract customers and get more business in the season.
MTS has announced that it is offering free local and national SMS for its subscribers on every run that will be scored by the Indian cricket team.
If a player hits a ball for six runs, then a MTS subscriber will get 6 SMS free. This offer will be provided to those MTS customers who opt for recharge voucher (RCV) of US$5.57 from the company. This RCV will give a talk time of US$6.64 to MTS customer. These free SMSs can be sent by customers to any local or national number in India.
According to Leonid Musatov, Chief Marketing Officer, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, these initiatives have been specially designed to add to the cheer of their customers every time India wins a match in this world cup.
Tata DOCOMO has introduced two new RCVs in the name of ‘not-out’ for S$1.26 and $2.27, respectively. Both RCVs offer talk-time worth US$0.61 and US$1.12, respectively, which can be used to make voice calls and are valid for 30 days.
According to Rishi Mohan Malhotra, Head, Value-Added Services, Tata DOCOMO, when you think of cricket, it’s all about fun, passion, excitement, celebration and winning and 57 and 103 Not Out are precisely that.
By using these RCVs, subscribers will be able to dial 54321194 and listen to 5 minutes or 10 minutes of cricket updates on every match day.
The other bundles offers with these RCV are one-month free subscription to an IVR-based voice game called Guess Master. The game is about guessing the winner of the day’s toss, the match-winner, scores made in each innings and 6s and 4s scored in each innings.
Subscribers can bid points on each guess and every correct answer will increase their chance to double their points. Post the World Cup, subscribers can redeem their total points for various gifts like Team India Jerseys, Shoes, I-Pods and LCD TVs.
RCVs also offer subscribers free subscription to the My Song service, wherein they can listen to live scores each time they call someone from their Tata DOCOMO number. Match scores will be played on match days whereas, on non-match days, subscribers’ chosen music will be played.
Additionally, subscribers who opt for 103 Not out Recharge Voucher will get free subscription to Call Me Tunes. This will enable him to listen to live score updates instead of ring tones.
Data service subscribers of Tata DOCOMO can download cricket games, wallpapers and animations related to cricket for free via Dive In.
AT&T Introduces Unlimited Calling to Any Mobile Number
Go ahead and dial up those digits–no matter which wireless network you’re calling. AT&T* today announced customers can enjoy unlimited mobile calling to any mobile number in America. Unlimited Mobile to Any Mobile is available to AT&T customers with an unlimited messaging plan and a qualifying voice plan**.
Beginning Thursday, Mobile to Any Mobile will be available to new and existing AT&T customers with a qualifying voice plan who subscribe to unlimited messaging plans. Existing customers with an unlimited messaging plan can activate Mobile to Any Mobile by visiting www.att.com/anymobile. The URL will be available beginning Thursday.
“Mobile to Any Mobile is an exciting offer that will keep our customers connected to the people they want to talk to, when they want to talk to them, without the hassle of watching minutes,” said David Christopher, chief marketing officer, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “We’re giving customers more options and even better value. And when you include Rollover Minutes, a benefit available exclusively from AT&T that lets customers keep their unused minutes for all domestic calls, including to landline numbers, it’s clear that AT&T offers the most flexibility in the industry.”
Unlimited messaging is available for $20 per month on an individual plan and $30 per month for a FamilyTalk Plan, which allows for up to five lines.
For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit http://www.att.com/.
*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
**Mobile to Any Mobile Calling – Available only with select Nation and FamilyTalk plans. Direct calls to & direct calls received from US mobile numbers only. Rollover Minutes: Unused Anytime Mins expire after the 12th billing period. Night & Weekend & Mobile to Mobile mins do not roll over.
Motorola swanks most powerful smartphone
Motorola Mobility has boasted its LTE enabled smartphone, the ATRIX 4G – a dual-core device delivering up to 2Ghz of processing power, a full Firefox web browser, and Adobe Flash player.
According to Bill Ogle, chief marketing officer, Motorola Mobility, Inc, consumers are increasingly using smartphones as their primary digital screens. Motorola ATRIX 4G ushers in a new era of mobile computing. ATRIX comes loaded with the Motorola WebTop application, and when used with one of their exclusive docks, enables consumers to extend the capabilities of their smartphones. Together, these provide a revolutionary interactive computing experience that empowers individuals in new ways for staying connected, informed and entertained at home, on the job and anywhere in between.
Motorola ATRIX 4G is designed to essentially become a user’s primary digital hub to create, edit and interact with documents, media and content. This is facilitated by Motorola’s WebTop application and new accessory docks, such as the Laptop Dock, that provide users with a larger screen, keyboard and trackpad enabling them to have an enhanced and more computer-like experience with their devices.
In the USA, ATRIX 4G will feature the AT&T U-verse Mobile application, which allows users to schedule recordings, and for qualifying TV customers, download and watch hit TV shows on their smartphones.
Motorola ATRIX 4G runs Android 2.2.
Key features and specifications:
* A dual-core processor capable of opening web pages twice as fast as most other smartphones, rendering games faster and displaying HD video on big-screen TVs
* A full 1 GB of RAM for twice the RAM of most smartphones to deliver effortless multi-tasking, such as watching a movie while receiving and responding to email
* The world’s first qHD display for a smartphone, offering high resolution and 24-bit color, making it easier to read indoors and outdoors
* Front- and rear-facing cameras and the ability to record in HD
* Convenient biometric fingerprint reader for easily unlocking your phone while providing extra security
* Up to 48GB of storage (16GB internal and optional 32GB MicroSD card) – enough to store thousands of songs, photos and movies
* 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi 802.11n support, enabling as much as 50 percent faster download and upload speeds in Wi-Fi mode compared to most other smartphones
* Optional AT&T Mobile Hotspot service for connecting up to five additional Wi-Fi-enabled devices
* Under 11 mm thin with an extra large 1930 mAh battery for extended standby and talk time
* Two microphones for noise-reduction technology so your calls will be heard loud and clear in even the noisiest environments
* Supports HD video capture and replay for most multimedia standards
Integra Telecom names Stephen Zimba Chief Marketing Officer (Portland)
Integra Telecom Inc., a fiber-based, integrated wholesale and retail telecommunications provider for business, has hired Steve Zimba as chief marketing officer.
He will work to strengthen Integra’s long-time reputation of having innovative and user-friendly solutions that leverage Integra’s extensive fiber network and meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.â€
Zimba brings 23 years of experience in the communications and technology industry where he has led the development and growth of several new products and businesses. Prior to Integra, Zimba held a variety of roles including vice president marketing and products at Cbeyond, director of strategic development at BellSouth, and managing director of the Global Telecom Business at Microsoft. He attended Syracuse University where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics and policy studies as well as a master’s degree in public administration and finance.
Steve brings extensive marketing expertise and telecommunications and managed services knowledge to Integra’s executive management team,†said Dudley Slater, CEO of Integra Telecom. He will work to strengthen Integra’s long-time reputation of having innovative and user-friendly solutions that leverage Integra’s extensive fiber network and meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.â€
About Integra Telecom
Integra Telecom Inc. provides voice and Internet solutions to thousands of business and carrier customers in 11 Western states, including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah and Washington. It owns and operates a best-in-class fiber-optic network comprised of metropolitan access networks, nationally acclaimed Internet and data networks, and a 4,700-mile high-speed long haul network. The company has earned some of the highest customer loyalty and customer satisfaction ratings in the telecommunications industry. Primary equity investors in the company include Goldman, Sachs & Co., Tennenbaum Capital Partners, funds managed by Farallon Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus. Integra Telecom and Electric Lightwave are registered trademarks of Integra Telecom Inc. For more information, visit: www.integratelecom.com.
Nokia appoints Jerri DeVard as the new Executive VP and CMO
Nokia has appointed Ms Jerri DeVard as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), a new role that will be effective from January 1, 2011.
The newly formed Marketing and Communications organization under the CMO will bring together all of Nokia’s Marketing, Brand Management, Communications and selected Industry collaboration activities.
According to Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, he is delighted to welcome Jerri to the Nokia team. Her experience and proven track record from a wide range of consumer businesses will be a great boost to increasing consumer focus and will bring fresh thinking as they strive for a clearer value proposition for their consumers and continue to build the Nokia brand.
According to Niklas Savander head of Nokia’s Markets unit, with Jerri at the helm, the company expects the integrated marketing and communications activities to increase the impact of their communications and engagement with consumers and other stakeholders across the industry and across the globe.
DeVard brings with her more than 25 years of marketing experience across leading consumer brands, including Verizon, Citigroup, Revlon, Harrah’s Entertainment and the Pillsbury Company. Her expertise encompasses brand management and multi- cultural marketing, with a strong foundation on direct marketing and e- commerce. She has provided counsel not only to blue-chip companies, but also applied her experience in fund-raising efforts as part of the Barack Obama presidential campaign. More recently, DeVard has founded her own marketing group that provides advice and counsel to major consumer product companies.
