Avea picks Xtract’s analytical services to reduce churn (Turkey)
Avea has inked an agreement to use social intelligence service provider Xtract’s Social Links service.
Social Links will allow Avea to reduce subscriber churn with retention campaigns, and will provide insight regarding the social interactions within the subscriber base. Operators can use this insight to create and deliver propositions that are relevant to their customer base.
Social Links provides mobile operators with the opportunity to identify and reach out to likely ‘churners’ with personalised marketing messages. Social Links provides operators with insights into how customers communicate with each other, and who are the most influential within their network and context.
Azercell introduces roaming discounts in Russia, Turkey, KPN (Azerbaijan)
Azercell is offering discounted roaming rates in Russia using the network of mobile operator Megafon. Calls to all networks are offered at US$1.32 per minute, SMS messages cost US$0.20, and GPRS roaming is billed at US$3.08 per 1MB.
The operator is also offering discounted roaming services in Turkey on the Turkcell network. Calls to all networks cost US$1.89 per minute, SMS US$ 0.23 and GPRS US$ 3.15 per 1MB for postpaid subscribers.
Discount rates are also available using roaming services on the networks belonging to the KPN group: Dutch operators KPN and Telfort, German operator E-Plus and Belgian operator Base. Calls to all networks cost US$1.89 per minute, SMS US$0.20 in the Netherlands and US$ 0.25 in Belgium and Germany, and GPRS at US$ 6.92 per 1MB.
Neo slashes international call rates (Kazakhstan)
Neo has slashed rates of international calls. Calls to Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China, Hong Kong, Turkey and Azerbaijan will get cheaper.
Call rates have been reduced to US$0.17 per minute. Activation of the service will cost US$1.37.
Norea Mobile introduces new international MVNO in Netherlands
MVNO Norea Mobile has launched in the Netherlands. The provide of international telecom services says it targets customers of “all cultures”. It will serve both consumer and business customers, with the latter able to take up to five lines with the company.
Using the KPN network and MVNE Aspider Solutions, Norea offers Sim-only voice and data plans. The SIM Only 20, 40, 80 and 150 plans offer customers the equivalent value in airtime. Within the bundle, calls to fixed lines are billed at EUR 0.09 per minute, mobile calls at US$0.15 per minute, SMS at US$0.18 and internet at US$0.13 per MB.
The company claims a first with international calls charged from the bundle, with rates to mobiles such as 9 cents a minute for India and China, Morocco at 34 cents and Turkey at 12 cents. Calls are billed by the minute, with no set-up fee. Data services are not available abroad.
For the first four months, calls made while roaming are not available, but customers will be able to receive calls when abroad. According to spokesman Erhan Ozdemir, the company targets 10,000 customers by year-end, a “conservative estimate”.
Promotional activites at the start include a presence at the concert of Turkish singer Arkan on 23 April and other multicutural events, as well as one month free with a one-year contract and two months free with a two-year contract.
As per Ozdemir, the company is also planning a SIM 10 plan, as well as a special offer for young people integrating internet and international services. While the company has already been approached with takeover offers, the spokesman stated Norea wants to first focus on achieving its own goals.
Turk Telekom introduces minutes bundle for weekend calls (Turkey)
Turk Telekom has rolled out a promotion dubbed ‘Talk Free at the Weekend’.
The promo targets individual subscribers using the KlasikHATT, KlasikHATT Mutlu Pazar, StandartHATT and StandartHATT Mutlu Pazar services, as well as the Home Advantage schedule.
As part of the promotion, customers who extend their contract by 18 months will be able to receive 3,000 minutes for voice calls on Saturdays and Sundays per month for one year.
Turkcell withdraws from Syria tender (Turkey, Syria)
Turkcell has scrapped its plans to tender for Syria’s third mobile licence, without giving reasons.
Turkcell’s move comes two days after UAE-based Etisalat dropped its plans to participate in the tender, stating such a move would not add value to its shareholders. Other interested bidders include Saudi Telecom, Qatar Telecom and France Telecom.
Doha Bank rolls out mobile banking service (Qatar)
Doha Bank has rolled out a mobile banking service. The tool will initially be available for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android mobile devices.
The service allows customers to access their bank accounts details, make instant transfer of funds between own accounts or to any registered third party beneficiaries and pay registered utility and credit card bills.
As a service launch promotion, Doha Bank will offer 4 iPhone 4 16GB handsets to customers who subscribe to its m-banking service during the initial months of the launching phase in a bi-weekly draw. Doha Bank will offer immediate remittances via mobile banking to 13 countries, including India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Lebanon, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Turkey and Yemen.
The bank’s mobile banking application for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android is now available online for free download. Once the application has been installed onto the device, Doha Bank customers can log in to their banking accounts and carry out transactions directly from their mobile phones.
iPhone users can download the free Doha iPhone application from the Doha page at Apple store. The BlackBerry and Android application is available for free download at the Doha Bank corporate website.
Saudi Telecom Selects JDSU for IPTV Monitoring Solution
After evaluating a number of competitive bids, Saudi Telecom (STC) has selected JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU) (TSX: JDU) to provide a comprehensive IPTV end-to-end service assurance solution. The solution will give STC the visibility to proactively detect and resolve IPTV service and network quality issues which will help speed repair times and ensure higher Quality-of-Service (QoS) for subscribers.
The JDSU IPTV solution was also selected by STC for its ability to effectively reduce the complexity involved in assuring IPTV service end-to-end. The solution consolidates all troubleshooting software and hardware elements and offers an easy to access, efficient view of key performance indicators (KPIs) to identify service-affecting issues throughout the entire IPTV network.
“As we face high expectations for delivering quality IPTV services, we saw the need for a much more comprehensive test and measurement solution to help keep customer satisfaction high while also reducing operational costs,” said Eng. Maziad Al-Harbi, STC general manager, Network Services Solutions. “JDSU’s IPTV solution was a winning combination — including JDSU’s successful IPTV installations, flexibility, intimate knowledge of video MPEG protocol, strong OSS experience and consultancy expertise.”
“With more consumers switching to IP-based television and video on demand, expectations for quality are higher than ever,” said Tom Smith, senior vice president in JDSU’s Communications Test and Measurement business segment. “JDSU is proud to provide an IPTV solution that combines effective scalability and exceptional quality of service to STC at this exciting stage of their IPTV service launch.”
The solution for STC is comprised of several products/services:
• JDSU NetComplete® Home Performance Management (PM) – enables multi-play service providers to extend their service assurance capabilities into the home providing full Quality-of-Service (QoS) and Quality-of-Experience (QoE) reporting independent of access technologies used. NetComplete Home PM uses a standards-based methodology which enables flexibility, scalability and manageability of the solution.
• JDSU MVP-200 – monitors all programs simultaneously, without scanning, and allows engineers to perform detailed troubleshooting of a selected stream or program without any interruption to monitoring.
• The Observer RPM 400 (by Volicon) – eliminates manual, visual channel inspections, which are typically an expensive and time-consuming task. Observer RPM provides QoE analysis by automatically scanning all channels via post-set top box (STB) monitoring, logging and troubleshooting.
JDSU will also provide integration and customization of third party products as well as consulting, project management, product maintenance and training services.
By implementing the newest and most advanced technologies, STC is able to continuously upgrade its systems and introduce new and innovative services that fulfill the aspirations and expectations of its customers.
About Saudi Telecom
STC (Saudi Telecom) is the leading national telecommunications services provider in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. STC provides four key services: Home services which include PSTN, broadband DSL, Personal services which include mobile telephone services and value added services, Enterprise services which provide advanced business data solutions to enterprises and Wholesale services that provide network services to other local operators. In the recent years STC grew beyond its local borders and went global forming a network of business and investments in various Gulf countries, Asia, and Africa. The company is present in Kuwait, Bahrain, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Turkey, and South Africa enabling it to provide services to a bigger customer base and increasing its total number of customers externally by studying and evaluating investment opportunities. For more information, visit STC on the Internet:http://www.stc.com.sa/
About JDSU
JDSU (NASDAQ: JDSU) (TSX: JDU) innovates and markets diverse technologies that enhance the way people experience the world every day. We enable fast, high-quality communications, secure financial transactions, reliable consumer electronics, green energy, differentiated brands and a host of other solutions. We provide these solutions through three business segments: Communications Test and Measurement, Communications and Commercial Optical Products, and Advanced Optical Technologies. To learn more about JDSU, please visit www.jdsu.com andwww.jdsu.tv and follow us on Twitter.
3 Austria launches Nokia E7-00 Navi edition smartphone
Hutchison 3G Austria (3 Austria) has launched Nokia E7-00 Navi Edition on its network.
The Symbian handset has a 4-in touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard and is targeted at business users.
3 Austria is offering the handset with the free add-on packet ‘MoreEurope Plus’, which includes 200 minutes of calls to fixed and mobile networks within the EU, Turkey and other countries. In addition, it is waiving the US$68.90 connection fee for new subscribers.
Turkcell Quality, Turkcell Technology, Turkcell Power is Now in Germany
Turkcell (NYSE: TKC, ISE: TCELL), the leading communications and technology company, which has mobile operations in eight countries and is Europe’s 3rd largest operator in terms of subscriber base, is delighted to announce that it is now expanding its operations into nine countries by initiating operations in Germany. A 100% Turkcell Group subsidiary; Turkcell Europe, headquartered in Cologne, has entered the market with the goal of creating a unique experience for its subscribers in Turkey and Germany, and is set to commence its provision of services on April 4, 2011 via 1,200 stores.
Turkcell Europe will meet the mobile communication needs of Turkish citizens living in Germany, as well as other mobile users with close ties to Turkey, through its best practices. Whether prepaid or postpaid, each Turkcell Europe subscriber with a Turkcell Europe line will benefit from offers tailored to the needs of diverse customer segments, and communicate at affordable prices, both in Turkey and Germany via flat rate offers. These offers, which enable Turkcell Europe subscribers to talk at advantageous prices while travelling from Germany to Turkey will also eliminate the need to change SIM cards or numbers during their stay in Turkey.
Turkcell CEO SureyyaCiliv; “We are proud to connect both countries and our citizens through the mobile communication bridge we have established 50 years after the first migrationfrom Turkey to Germany. We will provide our customers with Turkcell’s high quality products and services through outstanding voice and data offers, using the Germany’s extensive and high quality network. We aim to become the number one operator for subscribers who wish to communicate with their relatives in Germanyand Turkey while using the most feasible roaming advantages at affordable prices. Those subscribers are the ones who are keen on receiving Turkish content and information instantly through our innovative mobile services, as well as the ones who prefer to connect life with Turkey’s Turkcell.”
