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Access over 200 Million European Mobile Subscribers in 24 Hours with the World's 1st Self-Service Premium Content Delivery PortalLONDON --(Business Wire)-- March 8, 2006 -- Echovox -- Allowing companies to configure and launch premium mobile games, ringtones, news and blog applications across nine EU countries quickly and easily. -- Automatically manages country-specific regulations program brief submission and currency issues to allow users to control content distribution from a distance. -- Providing US companies easy access to the booming EU content market. The world's first self-provisioning, mobile content delivery portal was launched today by Echovox. SMSconnect.com(TM) makes it easy for anyone, from an established content owner to a start-up in the US, to gain access to the exploding European mobile content market in under 24 hours. The portal provides a complete, easy-to-use service to provision and bill for ringtones, mobile games, wallpapers, news, blogs or any premium SMS service. With access to nine European countries at launch (Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK), the service provides access for US companies to over 200 million mobile subscribers. SMSconnect manages all the complex, time-consuming issues regarding individual country regulations and billing requirements for the users, allowing companies to manage their European mobile content distribution and revenues remotely. Launching a premium mobile service on SMSconnect.com takes less than 24 hours including program brief approval with all covered carriers, compared to months with other available services. Once signed-up, users can instantly define the requirements for their service. These range from end-user tariffs and keywords to shortcodes and service definition. SMSconnect then automatically provisions services with each participating operator. Subscribers benefit from a secure section of the portal where they have access to extensive reporting, and can manage all their services in real time. David Marcus, CEO and founder Echovox commented: "The European mobile content market is set to grow to $12.5bn by 2009 (Strategy Analytics), offering fertile ground for US-based businesses to grow. Setting-up a Premium Mobile Service across many countries can be a nightmare compared to the internet, especially at a distance. The regulations, non-standard and multiple interfaces, multiple reporting sources and manual procedures that characterize the European mobile market make the launch of a mobile service extremely complex. SMSconnect is to the mobile content industry what NASDAQ was to traditional old-time exchanges - a transparent, simple and automated platform in a complex and opaque market." SMSconnect.com is the culmination of five years of mobile messaging experience and is underpinned by Echovox's core infrastructure, ICON(TM) (Inter-Carrier Open Network) that manages direct connections with carriers. ICON offers superior delivery and billing capabilities thanks to its Smart Retry Engine(TM) (SRE) feature. Not only does SMSconnect offer the most competitive outpayments based on volume, but combined with SRE, which analyzes the causes of delivery failures and treats them accordingly, successfully billed messages increase revenues for customers by over 14%. In order to cope with the increasing complexity of regional regulatory requirements, ICON's Automatic Compliance Engine(TM) (ACE) is built into SMSconnect.com. ACE lets application developers and mobile content distributors focus on marketing rather than managing the cumbersome regulatory requirements of each territory or carrier. About Echovox: Echovox is a global managed Mobile Service Delivery Platform (MSDP) provider, enabling brands to launch or improve existing mobile content and entertainment solutions. Its proprietary infrastructure reaches over 60 wireless carriers across the world, providing access to nearly a billion mobile subscribers. In combination with its unique delivery and billing platform, Echovox sources compelling, high-value content from major music labels, movie studios, leading game developers, sports rights owners and mobile application providers. Echovox's MSDP infrastructure integrates Content Adaptation, Device Rendering (WAP, i-mode), advanced Billing, Audio and Video Streaming, Premium SMS and MMS, Content Management, Authoring tools and advanced User Profiling and Cross-Selling tools. Its MSDP platform can be used to develop customized mobile content and entertainment services but is also leveraged in ready-to-go packaged solutions such as white-label mobile content kiosks for: ringtones, full-track music, wallpaper and mobile games and localized mobile entertainment content mini-portals (gossip, news, jokes, prize competitions). MVNOs, Wireless Carriers and Media Groups turn to Echovox for managed mobile content solutions. Content providers rely on the company for the worldwide distribution and monetization of their content on mobile. |
