Communications technology provider Comverse (News - Alert) has been shortlisted as a finalist for the 2008 GSMA Global Mobile Award in the Best Mobile Messaging Service category for its Visual Voicemail for iPhone solution.

Comverse’s Visual Voicemail is a leading solution enabling users to read their voicemail messages on their mobile handsets. With a single click, a user can read, rather than listen to, a VM message, which is more efficient and can save time. Users can read their VM messages as soon as they arrive. The solution also enables an “information-rich” inbox on the handset which enables a user to see all messages and handle any message in any order. In addition, more detailed information about each message can be displayed, such as date, time, duration, and, if available on the network, caller ID. The solution also integrates easily with existing handset address books.

Comverse, which is a clear leader in visual voicemail deployments, will find out if it won the award during the GSMA (News - Alert) Global Mobile Awards Gala Dinner to be held Tuesday, Feb. 12, at the National Palace (Palau Nacional) in Barcelona.

“We are honored to be among the finalists for this coveted industry award,” said Comverse Chief Marketing Officer John Bunyan in a press release. “I extend heartfelt congratulations to the Comverse teams for an outstanding product that has attracted international recognition. Just as Comverse leads and shapes the visual voicemail and messaging markets, the company enhances value for our customers with a broad range of innovative services in other key telecommunication fields, including billing, content, convergence, IP Communications and IMS.”

Comverse will be demonstrating its Visual Voicemail solution at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 11-14. In addition it will be introducing its new Mobile Advertising Solution, which gives operators different approaches to offer non-intrusive advertising on different channels of access. These advertising “services,” which can all be offered on an “opt-in” basis (customers don’t have to see the ads if they don’t want to), can include ringback tones, messages, mobile avatars or banners while browsing the mobile net. Many operators are now seeing mobile advertising gaining acceptance, and hence stronger adoption, among consumers, and many are finding new advertising models which are designed to enhance, rather than detract from, the mobile user experience. These new forms of non-intrusive advertising can create new revenue streams for mobile operators and hold promise to one day reduce the cost of mobile communications for consumers (perhaps even making mobile communications completely free – consider the “ad-supported telephony” model.)

“Comverse provides our service provider customers with an industry leading portfolio of value-added service and billing solutions,” said Andre Dahan, President and CEO of Comverse, in a company press release. “Our innovative solutions speak directly to the pressing challenges facing operators today to maximize revenue while personalizing the user experience, as exemplified by our new mobile advertising offering. Our visitors at Mobile World Congress will see how we support operators from service launch and beyond, continuously working toward increasing usage and revenue.”

Comverse will also demonstrate its Converged Billing, Instant SMS and Multi-Play service, among other solutions.

Comverse made news on TMCnet earlier this week when it announced that StarHub, a service provider offering triple and quad play services in Singapore, has deployed Comverse Self-Service Solutions to provide its consumer customers with a single, converged online view for managing their StarHub accounts online. Specifically, StarHub is using Comverse’s Consumer Account Manager and Consumer e-Shop applications to power its MyAccount Manager and eShop offerings. This enables its customers to have a unified view of all account activities (wireline and wireless), and gives them a “one stop shop” where they can order new services or modify existing services to better meet their multimedia entertainment and communications needs. In addition they can modify contract details, change service plans and view bills.

For more information about Comverse, visit www.comverse.com.

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