MTS crosses 10 mn customers mark, re-brands itself (India)
MTS which is owned by Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL) has re-branded itself with a new tag “A step ahead” to celebrate the achievement of over 10 million subscriber base in the country.
According to Vsevolod Rozanov, President and Chief Executive officer SSTL, it is indeed a proud moment for the company to have crossed the 10 million customer milestone. They had started this journey about two years ago in Tamil Nadu and have crossed this milestone in less than two years.
MTS has also launched MTS Pulse, an Android based, 3.2 inch touch screen smartphone designed by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC costing US$398.57 (Rs.18,000), which the customers can get free of cost by signing a postpaid agreement with the operator.
As part of the post paid agreement, the customer will need to do is sign up for a monthly rental of US$332.14 (Rs.15,000) with a commitment for 12 months and they would get the smartphone free. Also, bundled with the scheme are 1,500 minutes free talk time, 1,500 text messages and 1,500 MB data usage every month for 12 months.
O2 UK inks M2M contract with G4S Utility Services
O2 UK has announced that it is entering into the smart metering market by signing a multi-million pound contract with UK smart meter operations service provider G4S Utility Services.
Under the 3-year contract, O2 UK will provide M2M technology, including around 200,000 SIM cards to connect smart meters across the UK to the G4S data centre.
G4S will use the operator’s SMS gateway to securely relay information from its smart meters to its data centre and back again. Outbound messaging will allow G4S to monitor the working order of its smart meters remotely, reducing the cost of maintenance and servicing as well as carbon emissions associated with travel. O2 UK will also provide connectivity to run the annual testing of its disaster recovery process.
Smartphone owners more likely to text while driving
Distracted driving is an issue for many smartphone owners in the US and Western Europe, as they report widespread use of texting while driving. A research report has shown that 38% of the US smartphone owners and 40% of smartphone owners in Western Europe compose text messages while driving on a daily basis; while 40% in US and 42% in Western Europe read at least one text message while driving each day.
These numbers are nearly double the rate for owners of basic and feature phones.
In the USA, mobile email is also a source of driver distraction, as 25% of smartphone owners read emails daily while driving and 40% admit to writing emails each day behind the wheel.
Research shows that tasks that take the driver’s eyes off the road for as little as 2 seconds increase crash risk. Legislation banning texting is not likely to eliminate the behavior, so consumers need safer alternatives in the vehicle.
Speech recognition, when designed optimally, has been shown to mitigate effects of driver distraction. Vehicles which provide email and SMS functionality by voice can make drivers safer on the roads.
Vodafone offers Freebees to prepaid customers (Malta)
Vodafone is offering another beneficial offer to all its prepaid customers a Freebee on every Top-up.
The new Vodafone Freebees will give you 200 free SMS to all local Vodafone numbers and 50 MB of free mobile web access with every top-up.
To obtain the Vodafone Freebee, the users have to send an SMS with the word SMSWEB to 16200 and then Top-up with at least US$13.97.
According to Alexandre Froment-Curtil, Head of Marketing at Vodafone Malta, this is an offer not to be missed. Due to its exceptional value, they are confident that this offer will be a hit with everyone, particularly youth. This is a totally new concept where they want to reward prepaid customers for their loyalty each time they top-up.
Froment-Curtil added that Vodafone Malta has launched Vodafone Freebees to make data usage easier and more affordable for everyone. Their team constantly strives to invigorate Vodafone Malta’s presence in the market and their aim is to provide customers new concepts that give them quality, value and fun while making mobile technology affordable to all.
As per the company, customers applying for the Vodafone Freebees will also be benefitting from a new prepaid plan that enables them to make calls for 25c per minute to any local number and send SMS to any local number at 5c per SMS.
Beeline Cambodia launches ‘Your Number’ service
Mobile service provider, Beeline Cambodia has launched the ‘Your Number’ service, which allows customers to check numbers and prices via USSD or SMS. This service is free of charge for Beeline subscribers for up to five times per day.
Customers can change numbers up to twice a day and the fee for changing their phone number will be deducted directly from their account balance.
SFR full year revenue rises by 5.8% (France)
French mobile network operator, SFR – a joint venture between Vodafone and Vivendi – has reported a 1.2% rise in its full-year revenues for 2010 to US$3.57 billion. Excluding the regulated price cut impacts, revenues increased by 5.8%.
In 2010, SFR added almost 1.29 million new postpaid net adds, in particular due to the success of smartphones and offers including an Internet remote access. 28% of SFR customers were equipped with a smartphone at the end of December 2010 (compared to 15% at end of 2009) allowing a data revenue growth of 16% in 2010. At the end of 2010, SFR’s postpaid mobile customer base reached 16.095 million, improving the customer mix by 3.0 percentage point’s year-on-year to attain 75.6%.
SFR’s total mobile customer base reached 21.303 million.
SFR’s EBITDA was US$5.46 billion, a 0.2% increase compared to 2009. This growth included US$79.79 million of non- recurring (“non-cash”) items related to the termination of some of SFR’s fixed network indefeasible right of use (IRU) by third parties.
Vodafone is widely expected to sell its 44% stake in SFR in the near future to Vivendi.
