Voice Biz - The Voice and Messaging Services Forum

Vodafone third quarter KPIs

Today it was Vodafone's turn to announce it's third quarter Key Performance Indicators. Arun Sarin, Chief Executive of Vodafone said he was pleased with the company's performance, especially considering the fact that the company's major markets saw an increase in competition. He also expressed his satisfaction about the growth in sales of 3G devices who reached a total of 8.0 million in the Group’s subsidiaries and joint ventures and a further 1.1 million in the Group’s associates.
The company's customer base grew by 7.1 million proportionate organic net additions, 30% higher
than for the same quarter last year. Total proportionate net additions were 8.3 million,
bringing the total proportionate customer base to 179.3 million.The Group expects organic growth for this financial year in proportionate mobile revenue in the middle of the 6% to 9% range.

For complete and detailed numbers go here.

Telefonica completes the acquisition of O2

As of today, 23 January 2006, Telefonica is the biggest shareholder in mobile operator O2, with a total stake of 76.1 %.
The company announced that it has met all the legal and regulatory requirements of the UK Code on Takeovers and Mergers in record time, only 84 days after it was first announced on 31 October.
Also today changes were made in O2's management team and approval was given at the board meeting to appoint Telefonica chairman Cesar Alierta and managers Julio Linares, Antonio Viana-Baptista and Jaime Smith, as board members. Peter Erskine was also appointed company Chairman and CEO.

O2 announces third quarter key performance indicators

Today O2 released figures of it's performance over the last 3 month period up until December 31 2005.
Overall they managed to grow their customer base by 1.75 million, taking the total number to 27.4 million, 18% higher than last year. The biggest contributor here was the German market, who brought in 823 000 new customers.
Peter Erskine, Chief Executive of O2 plc , said they were particularly pleased by the company's performance in the UK contract market, where they added 274,000 net new customers, growing the base by 13% year-on-year. He also said in light of the soon-to-be-completed acquisition of O2 by Telefonica tha t the company is doing well and that they are looking forward to maintaining momentum as part of Telefonica.

You can see the complete figures here.

Swisscom has a new CEO

Swisscom Group announced on January 20th that Carsten Schloter (photo) has been appointed as it's new CEO. He will take over at the helm of Switzerland's leading telecoms company from Jens Alder, who is standing down at his own request after 6 years in this position.
Carsten Schloter (1963) was until now CEO of Swisscom Mobile and member of the Group Executive Board. He is a graduate in business administration and IT, is German, studied and worked in Paris, and speaks German, French and English. Under his management, Swisscom Mobile succeeded in doubling its customer base to more than four million, while at the same time introducing a host of new services.

O2 makes it easier to handle eBay transactions

O2 customers in the UK are now able to track the progress of their eBay.co.uk bids or sales using their handsets, thanks to an agreement between the two companies. The service can only be accessed via i-mode® enabled phones and promises to have all the features that regular eBay users are used to.
For those concerned about the security of these mobile transactions, officials say:
"Customers can be safe in the knowledge that eBay through their mobile will be just as secure as it is through a PC since i-mode is based on trusted, open Internet standards."

Read the official press release here.

Dynamic enriched Phonebook

Orange France is currently trialing a Dynamic Address Book where the user can see the availability status of each individual in his/her address book.

Based on a combination of Presence Detection and Presence Management, the subscriber can at any time see if the status of a contact is Available, To be contacted via SMS or Do not disturb.

In addition, subscribers who accept to make themselves visible on the network can at any time switch to an 'Invisible' mode to protect their privacy.

Through this trial, Orange will measure the impact of Presence Detection impact on the usage of mobile phones.

Possible future enhancements to this service include connexion to a diary as well as over the air synchronisation with the contact list of a computer.

Bluetooth based Mobile Navigation

Telefónica Móviles has announced today "Ruta Movistar", introduced as the first integrated service transforming a mobile handset in an online navigation system.

The service is based on a handset combined with a GPS systems. The communication between the two devices is based on Bluetooth and the service delivers concurrently voice based navigation instructions with maps downloaded to the handset.

The pricing model is a flat fee of 10 Euros per month.

Telefónica Móviles are highlighting that Ruta Movistar could in the future be enhanced with additional information such as location of speed detection radars, traffic black spots or even indicating when the driver is over speeding.

More mobile video services

As the 6 Nations Rugby tournament starts today in Europe, Orange France is announcing the coverage of this event for mobile users, delivering around ten clips per match to cover the most significant moments as well as a summary available immediately after the match is finished.
Another step in the 3G world that should make this service more meaningful to the end-users considering to migrate (although the service is presented as available to 2G video users too).

 

Mobility has no limits!

In the UK, a man who was stuck in the traffic as he was going to court to be sentenced called his lawyer to inform he could not get there in time.

The judge double checked and confirmed this was not an issue.
The man was then sentenced over the phone!

Do we really want to be always on ?

Short movies for mobile phones

Orange France is encouraging video creation through the first contest of its kind

Orange is indeed inviting young talents to submit a short video creation designed to be seen on mobile handsets.

Based on either digital imaging or more traditional shooting, this contest will consider fiction, animated or documentary movies.
 
The top 5 winners will receive their prize at the upcoming Film Festival in Cannes, later this year.

As suggested yesterday and even before the opening of 3GSM Congress, this year will be the 3G year!

3GSM Congress: the 3G year

Just a few days prior to the beginning of the 3GSM Congress, we are hearing many rumours about the various services that will be presented by operators.

As we cover this event, we will provide more details on this Weblog and there is no doubt that this year will definitely see the 3G Boom.

Watch this space!

TMIA Annual Meeting

Prepare for TMIA's Annual Meeting -- San Diego

The TMIA Annual Meeting will take place on February 28, March 1, 2, 3, 2005. The Meeting will be held at the Marriott Mission Valley in San Diego. "Members preferred San Diego when they were queried in our April survey" stated co-chair Don Katz. "To be certain, this September Tom testes San Diego against the next most popular three locations. San Diego won with a 2 to 1 margin over the next preferred choice." 
Registration is now open. 

About VMA

For seventeen years now, VMA has brought together delegates from the voice enhanced services business, including voice mail and voice processing industries. Representatives are worldwide operators, service providers, customers, industry specialists and consultants.

VMA's mission is to maintain intelligence and promote innovation and initiatives around voice enhanced services to the benefits of the various stakeholders of this industry. Executives representing wire-line and wire-less operators, vendors and industry consultants from Europe, the Americas and from the Near- and Far-East countries attend VMA's invitation-only conferences.

The VMA's meetings aim to provide members and invitees a unique opportunity to exchange ideas with other industry participants and enhance their company's network and business potential.