iome has launched Plotstar, a digital media service that enables consumers to discover, plan ahead and share events, activities and plans, based on their current or intended location. Plotstar, which is available via any Internet-connected device, will also enable individuals to book restaurants, cinema and theatre tickets through the service, share event plans with friends via social networks, and access relevant discount vouchers and offers that are personal to them. The Plotstar platform has the ability to learn consumer behaviour, likes and dislikes, in order to deliver a highly personalised and relevant service. It provides access to over 2.5m locations and listings, 500,000 events and many online and mobile vouchers, all of which are geo-located.
The service is initially being launched as a white-label offering to businesses that wish to deliver highly targeted digital services, offers and advertising to their consumers’ device of choice. Iome says it has seen initialinterest in the service from coffee shop chains, who see potential in the servive for deepening their engagement with their customers.
Plotstar lets individuals discover places, events and activities based on their current or planned location and create plans around these. Discount coupons are also integrated to give consumers the ability to make savings as part of their personal plans. Plans can be shared with friends via Facebook, Twitter, SMS or email. Plotstar users can also add their own content, including photos from the event, venue ratings and messages.
iome CEO, Phil Eames, says brands are able to monetise the service through ads, and commissions on items such as theatre ticker sales and discount vouchers, with iome taking a share of the revenue as payment for running the service.
“There are 180 million visits to London every year and 94% of them are planned in some way, so there is great potential for a service like this,” says Eames.
Eames adds that iome hopes to have three clients up and running with the platform by February. One is British Telecom, for whom iome has been running a ‘Lite’ version of the service for several month, another is a multi-shopping centre operator, who is interested in the platform’s ability to distribute discount vouchers and drive footfall into its tenants’ shops.
“Plotstar is the first service of its kind to bring together social networking, discount coupons and location-based services and fills a gap in the market,” says Eames. “By delivering this interactive service to its customers, businesses have a more detailed understanding of their behaviour and are able to provide tailored offers and services as a result."
What to make of Bluetooth marketing? On first reading, the results of Blismobile’s Bluetooth campaign to promote the launch of a new movie sound pretty good, with 205,000 downloads of the movie trailer. The 1% conversion rate referred to in the press release made me wonder if every one of the 20 million commuters potentially exposed to the campaign had received an uninvited message asking if they wanted to receive the trailer, in which case, as I’ve said before about Bluetooth, that’s an awful lot of people to annoy to get those 205,000.
In fact, a call to Blismobile’s PR confirms that this is not the case. While there is some random pinging of phones if you enter the download zone, Blismobile tries to get people to actively request the download with a call to action on posters on trains, or interactive billboards at train stations. This was all explained to me a year or so ago, in fact, when I met Blismobile boss Greg Isbister. I was impressed at the time by what he told me. It sounded like a better, less intrusive way of doing Bluetooth.
But then, arriving at London Waterloo train station this morning, I received a message asking me if I wanted to receive a Bluetooth message from the Nokia Ovi Store. I replied ‘No’. 10 seconds later, I received the same message. A couple of days ago, I had exactly the same experience, again from the Ovi Store, at Victoria station. Except this time I got it three times.
I’m not blaming Blismobile for this; I have no idea who is behind the campaign. But this kind of poorly executed rubbish is exactly why so many people have so little time for Bluetooth. The fact it’s a fairly well-known mobile phone brand behind it just makes things worse.
There used to be a debate about whether messages like this were illegal, but that was clarified a while back by way of some guidance from the regulatory authorities. They may be legal then, but many more campaigns like this and we won’t need the legislators to kill Bluetooth marketing – it will kill itself.
David Murphy
Editor
Blismobile Media, Europe’s biggest mobile media owner, has released results of what it describes as the UK’s first fully integrated mobile out-of-the-home campaign, for the launch of ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassuss’ movie.
The national campaign ran across Blismobile’s mobile media network, which includes train stations and some train services, such as the Gatwick express, across the country. It offered commuters the chance to download the film trailer via SMS, Bluetooth or the mobile Internet. Over the course of three weeks, the campaign was exposed to over 20 million commuters and delivered over 205,000 successful interactions, which amounts to 1% of successful engagements.
Because of Blismobile’s ‘zero wastage’ campaign structure, client Mediaedge: cia was charged only for each successful download with the mobile Internet build, SMS and Bluetooth elements all provided within this fee. In addition, MEC also received display exposure via various outdoor touchpoints.
Blismobile has channelled significant investment into developing Blis360, its multi-channel mobile media platform which creates content across the three major mobile media channels - SMS, Mobile Internet and Bluetooth media.
“Our clients aren’t interested in specific mobile channels, for them it’s about outcomes and ROI, which is why we charge for successful interactions only, giving consumers the choice and delivering fully integrated campaigns with no production costs, which completely takes the risk out of mobile,” says Blismobile Media Managing Director, Greg Isbister.
Ross Cunningham, Marketing Manager at film distributor Lionsgate, says this is the first time the company has used multiple mobile channels to support the launch of one of its films and that it is very happy with the result. He says:
“As part of the overall campaign, Blismobile helped us deliver a solid box office result. With 205,000 views of the trailer, mobile remains an integral element of our marketing strategy.”
FlirtFinder, the mobile dating brand owned by mobile content firm Isomob, says it has seen traffic on its mobile site rise by 60% since October, thanks partly to changes made by mobile operators, along with the implementation of web Payforit.
According to Isomob, the average paying member now sends 15 PayForIt billed messages a month. Half of the members that have joined the service since it launched in 2008 are still actively using the service today. The average member visits the service 27 times and more than half of those visits result in chargeable message credits being spent. And an average visit to the service will result in 18 pages being viewed, equating to 486 pages viewed per member.
“These numbers are very encouraging, especially for a premium, rather than a free or ad-funded service,” says
Managing Director Justin Battell. ““When we looked at the user trends, we discovered that every member joining the service generated more revenue than the last. As the database grew, the number of possible connections increased, and that meant more opportunities for chargeable interaction. The next phase of development will result in a faster user experience, with more functionality and options accessed directly off the home page. We are also adding more innovative and fun things to do on the service, focusing on creating those all-important connections between members.”
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has announced what it describes as “a significant revision” to the definition of Mobile Marketing.
The MMA’s new definition runs as follows: Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.
According to the MMA, the crux of the new definition lies in two parts of its taxonomy. The first is that the “set of practices” includes “activities, institutions, processes, industry players, standards, advertising and media, direct response, promotions, relationship management, CRM, customer services, loyalty, social marketing, and all the many faces and facets of marketing.”
The second is that to “engage” means to “start relationships, acquire, generate activity, stimulate social interaction with organization and community members, [and] be present at time of consumers expressed need.” Furthermore, engagement can be initiated by the consumer (“Pull” in form of a click or response) or by the marketer (“Push”).
According to MMA President and CEO Mike Wehrs, the new definition more accurately reflects the evolved nature and current capabilities of Mobile Marketing. He says:
“Mobile Marketing involves a wide range of practices, and this definition clearly encompasses all of its different variations to properly convey the true power of the medium. The new definition will help frame the activity range broadening the market overall around Mobile Marketing and encourage our ecosystem to engage at every level.”
The MMA says that the updated definition benefits both MMA members and consumers. It says the initiative creates continuity among all stakeholders using the mobile marketing channel to reach their audiences, while protecting consumers through industry best practices and established mobile media guidelines.
A task force of MMA board members led the initiative to update the definition, circulating the revisions to all regional board members to ensure relevance and appropriateness on a global scale. After careful review and collaboration, the MMA says it has updated the definition for the benefit of the worldwide mobile marketing community.
Sybase 365 has been selected by 11 mobile operators in Asia to provide international SMS, MMS and GRX (mobile data roaming) services. The operators include Grameenphone, Smart Mobile, TMI Cambodia, Sampoerna, SureM, Unitel, G-Mobile, Spice Nepal; CityCell and Excell. The operators will gain access to more than 3.4 billion mobile subscribers around the world across 800 networks, thanks to Sybase 365’s transcoding capabilities, that the company says traverse networks and handsets without degrading message quality, over GSM, CDMA and TDMA networks.
In addition, Sybase 365 has also signed Laos operator, Lao Telecom, for its GRX 365 global data roaming service. This provides Lao Telecom subscribers with access to more than 500 mobile network operators around the world. GRX 365 can be used for international MMS connectivity via MMX 365, and SMS and Roaming Signalling using SigTran. The GRX 365 solution is IPX-ready, able to deliver interoperability for Voice and Video over IP and Instant Messaging among other services. These new agreements increase the number of the company’s operator partners in Asia to 161.
Separately, Sybase 365 has partnered with Telecom New Zealand International to provide a joint IPX Voice service. The IPX Voice service offers a high-quality voice service based on managed IP interconnects using Sybase 365’s GRX infrastructure combined with TNZI’s next-generation softswitch technology, enabling operators to maximize their operational efficiencies, save costs, and improve service quality to their subscribers.
The GSM Association (GSMA) has announced the winners of the Asia Mobile Awards 2009, as well as the winners of the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix – Asia Tournament, which was contested this week at the Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong, China.
The Asia Mobile Awards were created by the GSMA as a platform to showcase leadership and diversity for mobile content, products and services across Asia. This year’s Awards attracted more than 100 entries from operators, vendors and the broad value chain from across the mobile industry that provide products and services that are commercially available in at least one Asian market. For the first time, this year’s winners will also be shortlisted for the Global Mobile Awards, which take place next year at the GSMA’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
“These awards reflect the strong growth of mobile communications in Asia,” says GSMA CEO, Rob Conway. “In the last year alone, mobile connections in the region have risen by 370 million, and this growth is driven by innovative new services, applications and ever richer mobile content. These awards recognise the leaders, pioneers and innovators that are making this happen. Our congratulations to the winners, and our thanks to all those who participated.”
The winners of the Asia Mobile Awards 2009 are:
Best Mobile GameBest Mobile Broadband Handset/Device
Nokia - N97 Mini
The Mobile Innovation Grand Prix competition was created by the GSMA with the primary goal of showcasing promising entrepreneurs from small and medium-sized companies bringing innovative new products and services to market. Two overall winners, Altobridge and Sentry Wireless, have won a trip to compete for the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix title, part of the GSMA’s Global Mobile Awards, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February 2010.
There’s more information about the GSMA's Asia Mobile Awards here. And about the Mobile Innovation Grand Prix competition and Mobile Innovation programme here.
41st Parameter, which provides fraud detection and prevention technology, is forecasting increased mobile channel cybercrime and decreased effectiveness of traditional anti-fraud tactics, owing to the rapid adoption of new mobile handsets and multiple operating systems. According to a November 2009 consumer study of US mobile phone users, 18.9% of mobile consumers now use a Smartphone, and an additional 49.2% plan to buy an advanced mobile device within the next two years. Last week, Gartner reported that Smartphone sales in Q3 2009 grew 12.8% year-on-year, reaching 41.1 million units.
“The mobile channel is the fastest growing segment of the Internet today,” says 41st Parameter. Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, Ori Eisen. For companies looking to increase their audience potential, conducting business with billions of mobile handsets is compelling. Unfortunately, the mobile channel is equally appealing to cybercriminals, as traditional fraud deterrents won’t identify or differentiate between the growing varieties of Smartphones.”
The use of cookies, cache, Flash Shared Objects and IP Geolocation for detecting and preventing online fraud are increasingly ineffective, the company says. These tactics are further degraded on mobile devices, which lack Flash and are channelled through IP blocks by telcos, causing actual location to be misrepresented. To effectively identify cybercrime activity, the company says, it is critical to understand which devices are transacting online, how frequently they appear, and the actual proximity of each as compared to where they ought to originate. 41st Parameter’s device intelligence technology differentiates these and many other characteristics for any Internet connected device, including all Smartphones, without any personally identifiable information.
While the use of mobile devices for transacting online continues to be an increased potential source of fraud, another tactic exploits the explosion of newly-created dedicated mobile sites as a prime target of fraudsters in the near term. A recent whitepaper on the tactics perpetrated against the mobile channel titled ‘Mobile Banking – An Easy Target for Fraud’ is available by request via the 41st Parameter website.
I’m at an event, ‘Winning the Race: Chasing the Money in Decade 2’, organized by Results International, a corporate finance and consulting business specialising in marketing communications and digital media. Currently, we have a panel debate involving Howard Furr-Barton, ex-MD of online marketing agency Brand Attention, but now Head of Mobile at below the line agency Baber Smith, and Barry Houlihan, CEO of Mobile Interactive Group.
They are talking about winners and losers in the media world, and Furr-Barton is proclaiming NFC payments and 2D barcodes as winners, with some passion, telling the audience that mobile is such a big pond, he can’t believe there are not more brands swimming in it.
He’s just scanned a barcode on a bottle of Marks & Spencer fruit juice to show the delegates, who include some agency people, but also a lot of finance types, how it takes you through to the M&S mobile site. I didn’t hear any gasps, but I think some in the audience, at least, were impressed. Haven’t had chance to ask yet how big a deal it is that most people don’t have the necessary barcode reader on their phones, but hopefully, will do so later.
Houlihan is talking about the “massive opportunity” for mobile payments, so long as the operators embrace it. Oh well. Asked about mobile advertising, he said the last year has been fairly flat for display advertising, but said things are picking up, adding: “The AdMob Google transaction has caused a few backsides to shift in a few boardrooms.”
Actually, just asked that question and Furr-Barton conceded that it is an issue:
“In excess of half the audience can scan barcodes and don’t know about it,” he said. A show of hands in response to the question: ‘How many people in the room know whether their phone can scan barcodes?’ saw around 10 hands raised out of a room of around 80-90 people.
The debate has moved on now; they’re not even talking about mobile. But this is a very well-attended event and it’s great to see mobile given such a prominent profile in it.
David Murphy
Editor
Mark Brill, Chair of the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Mobile Marketing Council and CEO of txt4ever, responds to criticism of the DMA’s latest research on mobile, and argues that the mobile marketing industry is failing to get its message across to brands and agencies
In a recent comment in this magazine about the DMA's UK Spam study into mobile spam (12 November), David Murphy posed the rhetorical question: "I just wonder how many more studies we need to tell us that consumers are happy to receive marketing messages on their mobile phone, so long as they have agreed to receive them.”
Of course, for those of us entrenched in the mobile marketing sector, the question of consumer interest in mobile marketing is familiar and well understood. The UK Spam Study wasn't conducted with a view to preach to the converted. The DMA conducted the study because of its concern that the mobile marketing sector is failing to convey the right messages about mobile marketing to the wider brand and agency audiences. In publishing the UK Spam Study, the DMA has sought to improve understanding in a number of ways.
Firstly, we all make assumptions, and having studies that either confirm or challenge them is useful. Such information is only useless if it can't be acted on. Secondly, the study went far beyond simply looking at consumer interest in receiving mobile marketing messages. It also addressed key issues, such as consumers' favoured time and frequency for receiving SMS marketing messages, as well as the all-important opting-out process. Thirdly, it's clear that some agencies and many brands do not appear to understand about mobile user content or how to engage with their customers through the medium.
Openwave Systems has unveiled Openwave Integra 3.0, a Linux-based, proactive service mediation and policy management solution. According to Openwave, the solution supports all of its service management products, and affords operators the flexibility to select the deployment architecture and features that meet their specific needs, while reducing overall TCO (total cost of ownership).
“The data tsunami is here and now, and we believe Integra 3.0 will enable customers to become more agile in response to growing network capacity and service demands driven from the staggering waves of data demand from an increasing array of mobile and consumer electronic devices,” says John Giere, Senior Vice President, Products and Marketing at Openwave. “As operators continue looking for ways to optimise their network resources, solutions like Integra 3.0, with its comprehensive policy controls and traffic management features, will help operators create rich policy rules and enforcements to best manage their network.”
Integra 3.0 is designed to allow operators to effectively manage, monitor and monetise mobile Iraffic from an increasingly diverse set of devices and Internet content, all from a single point of control in-network. With Integra 3.0, says Openwave, the operator is fully capable of continuing to manage and provide services for traffic from legacy devices and networks, while at the same time catering to the often separate needs of data-hungry devices that are emerging in the market. Integra can scale rapidly as traffic grows and deploy new mobile data services across converging access networks and devices.
“Mobile data usage and uptake is expected to lead to unprecedented data consumption patterns, with growth in a manner that will likely exceed the characteristics of the fixed line internet,” says Elisabeth Rainge, Director, NGN Operations, at analyst IDC. “In order for operators to stay ahead of data consumption, they should consider both near and long-term solutions. To ensure that resources are fairly allocated in the face of the growing data demand, policy management solutions can help operators create rules and enforcement that manage precious network resources.”
Integra 3.0 seamlessly updates an operator’s WAP environment to embrace Internet protocols, preserving and maximising existing investments with new opportunities to develop revenue. Integra 3.0 orchestrates and mediates a set of mobile Internet services, which are driven by a policy rules engine that allows each transaction processed to be treated as appropriate, depending on such factors as user profile, device capabilities, content being accessed and network. Integra plug-in services architecture ensures that all value-added services provided by Openwave can be easily installed and deployed on top of Integra 3.0. The operator may also choose to develop or avail of other third party services through this plug-in API.
The market for mobilising social networks in Latin America and Africa is set to increase ten-fold to 527 million users by 2015, according to research announced today by Frost & Sullivan and Colibria. Within six years Frost & Sullivan estimates the combined market will be worth almost $2.4 billion (£1.4 billion), with growth being driven by increased availability of the Internet, mainly through mobile phones.
“Social networks are an emerging trend in these regions, and due to the lack of fixed infrastructure, the mobile phone is often the only point of access for Internet-based services such as social networks,” says Frost & Sullivan Senior Consultant, Jon Stephansen. “The availability of affordable mobile data service packages is necessary to drive the growing social networking market to the mobile space.”
In Africa, mobile penetration is such that mobile connections exceed fixed connections ten to one, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) 'Information Economy’ Report 2009. Similarly, in South America, 80% of the population have a mobile phone, compared to just 25% with regular fixed Internet access.
“The specific conditions in these markets have led to an increased need for solutions that make mobilised social networking affordable and easy to implement,” says Colibria CEO, Keith Gibson. “This is why we developed the Social Center - to provide operators with a reliable and cost-effective solution that provides all of their subscribers with access to social networks. With the growing consumer interest in social networks, it is important for operators to be able to deliver these services on top of the basic offerings to attract new customers.”
Colibria’s Social Center pushes updates to the user so they immediately know when their friends change information on their social network sites. Users can also post content to multiple sites simultaneously, which significantly reduces data usage and therefore cost for the user. Colibria’s Social Center works on feature phones and basic utility phones that dominate in these regions, with solutions also available where data coverage is incomplete. The Social Center is currently being rolled out by operators in these high-growth regions, with Movistar Peru and MTN South Africa already deployed.
A fascinating morning at the Innovation Qualcomm event today. A lot of what the company does is under the bonnet of Smartphones, Netbooks and the new breed of Smartbooks in the shape of chips, processors and cellular connectivity devices. The company also developed the BREW platform, wihch, as Andrew Gilbert, EVP & President, Qualcomm Internet Services & Europe, pointed out, has so far delivered over 2 billion paid-for mobile applications, generating over $2 billion (£1.2 billion) of revenue to publishers and developers worldwide.
Among the exhibits being demonstrated today was a wireless health system. This included a heart rate monitor sitting in the Qualcomm guy’s shirt pocket and transmitting heart rate data to his phone. In the near future, we were told, the monitor will take the form of a smart patch, which looks pretty much like a regular plaster, but contains the circuitry necessary to collect and transmit the data. Freakier still were pills with built in, very low power radios, that will transmit data to a gateway, enabling a care provider to establish whether a patient had taken their medication. The pills will also contain whatever drug is needed to treat the patient’s illness; the radio is just an added extra. This system is being developed by a US firm called Proteus, in conjunction with Qualcomm, and while it may sound like something out of a movie, according to the guy doing the demo, it’s very close to being a commercial reality. I just hope that swallowing a radio, albeit a fairly low-powered one, four times a day for a week doesn’t bring on any side effects of its own.
The company also demonstrated an automatic emergency call system that will trigger a call to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). The system is expected to be mandatory for all new cars within a couple of years. Then there’s Skifta, which enables you to access your media, such as music, photos and videos, from any DNLA-compliant (Digital Living Network Alliance) device, such as a TV for example. So if you’re round your friend's house and you don’t care for their music collection, you can listen to some of yours.
Another idea proposed at the event was an augmented reality (AR) app that would enable you to point your phone at someone and see whatever public, social networking-type information they were willing to share with strangers in this way. Another AR app, or possibly the same one, would pull up information and reviews about restaurants simply by pointing your phone at them. While some of this may sound a little fanciful, this last one, as anyone who followed our coverage of last year’s MWC will know, certainly isn’t. I had just such an app, the iPointer, demonstrated to me in the grounds of the Fira where the event takes place. In any event, if the future looks anything like Qualcomm’s vision of it, it’s going to be a blast.
David Murphy
Editor
Mobixell, which provides mobile multimedia messaging, Mobile TV, and mobile advertising solutions, has launched Rich Media 7, a solution which enables mobile operators to manage four separate transcoders into one single system. Mobixell says the solution enables operators to consolidate adaptation and transcoding of video, MMS, offline content and other content that needs to be adapted to fit and run on various handset screen sizes, from one single transcoder hub. Previously, the company says, operators have been managing four separate transcoders from four different vendors.
Rich Media 7 also provides the operator with a technical database that adapts multimedia content to a user’s specific device, recognising when an end user upgrades to a new handset. This means that subscribers will be able to use the same MMS and video services that they are accustomed to, regardless of the handset they upgrade to. The operator will also be able to connect to an application programming interface (API) that defines the ways in which a program may request services from operating systems (OS). By connecting to the API service, operators will be able to tap into ad-funded services, such as adding pre- and post-roll advertising to a subscriber’s video.
“By utilizing Mobixell’s Rich Media 7 solution, operators can further enhance revenue streams by enabling the creation of new ad-funded business models,” says Simon Darr, AVP Marketing, at Mobixell. “User experience is key to the success and uptake of any mobile service. Mobixell’s expertise in rich media user experience ensures subscribers will enjoy the maximum potential of their handset’s media capabilities by utilizing content adaptation, optimisation and delivery of multimedia services.”
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has unveiled the MMA Global Research Panel, which it says is the industry’s first research capability to collect data via the mobile channel. The MMA says that the survey, produced in partnership with Kinesis Survey Technologies, the panel is designed to provide brands and agencies with deep, actionable insights into marketers’ integrated mobile campaigns, objectives and outcomes.
The MMA says the Global Research Panel will facilitate an ongoing dialogue and produce regular reports, available exclusively to MMA members and participating brands and agencies. These reports, it says, will provide fresh insight, based on questions asked of mobile marketers about their perceptions of the mobile channel, such as which mobile platforms they are using or not, how much they are spending and what results they are seeing.
“This is the first branded research panel for business decision-makers expressly designed so executives can answer mission-critical questions directly on their mobile handsets,” says Peter Johnson, Vice President of Market Intelligence and Strategy for the MMA. “It’s the first of its kind. This mobile-enabled panel is the latest membership benefit demonstrating MMA’s commitment to providing the marketing community with innovative tools for integrating the mobile channel into their overall marketing campaigns.”
Separately, the MMA has also announced the launch of its Certified Mobile Marketer Program: MMA Track, which is designed to provide marketers with the fundamental skills and knowledge that are critical for success in mobile marketing. Open to individuals and organizations of all skill levels, the program is described by the MMA as “a unique, intensive opportunity to master industry terminology, budgeting and financial planning for mobile campaigns, regulatory requirements and industry best practices in mobile marketing”.
There’s more information about the Certified Mobile Marketer Program here.
Starhome, which provides roaming services for mobile network operators, has announced the launch of its Next Generation Intelligent Preferred Network Solution (NG-IPN).
Starhome describes NG-IPN as the “first fully automated Steering of Roaming (SoR) solution”, and says that it enables operators to automatically steer their outbound roamers to preferred network partners, based on revenues and Inter-operator Tariff (IOT) agreements. Optimized steering efficiency is achieved when NG-IPN detects deviations in the roamer’s behaviour pattern, profiles them, and initiates an automatic adjustment to the steering application. Therefore, says Starhome, NG-IPN’s automated performance facilitates better steering results, maximizing targets set by mobile operators.
NG-IPN also provides operators with an immediate snapshot of the usage status and distribution of roamers across all networks in each visited country, giving them an up-to-date revenue status report. The automated solution provides efficient steering results by focusing on usage distribution, rather than the number of roamers. In addition, says Starhome, NG-IPN eliminates manual provisioning, as well as manual requests for daily status reports.
The solution also enables operators to dynamically segment subscribers, based on their current and previous usage. For example, high data consumption subscribers who use 3G data cards, will be steered by NG-IPN to the network where the data targets are still outstanding; the same logic applies for voice-only users and sleepers (users who do not generate any roaming traffic).
According to Starhome, other SoR solutions focus solely on the distribution of roamers between visited networks, rather than analyzing the actual usage and revenue patterns. To receive a revenue report, roaming managers must obtain reports from their billing departments, check each network to see if they are meeting targets, and modify the configurations.
“These enhanced capabilities dramatically increase steering effectiveness and help mobile operators achieve their roaming business goals quickly, more efficiently and with a minimal investment of resources,” says Starhome Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, Amit Daniel.
Camiant has revealed the findings of its latest study, ‘Rethinking Mobile Broadband Data Rate Plans’. The study finds that by redesigning mobile broadband data rate plans, operators will be able to help solve one of the industry’s most pressing concerns, which Camiant dubs the “bandwidth-value gap”, and defines as “the growing disconnect between bandwidth demand and revenue growth”.
Camiant notes that, according to estimates from research firm Heavy Reading, bandwidth on 3G mobile networks is growing by approximately 400% annually, while the associated revenue from data services is growing by approximately 40% per year. Camiant’s study reveals that mobile data consumers are more interested in rate plans designed to control bandwidth and that afford incremental revenue add-ons than they are in traditional ‘Cap + Overage’ rate plans, with strict usage caps and steep overage penalties.
The study was commissioned by Camiant and conducted by Heavy Reading in September and October 2009. 263 mobile broadband dongle users throughout Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden were polled regarding their preferences for various forms of rate plans.
Key findings among consumers with Cap + Overage-style rate plans include: