Vodafone and An Post mulling MVNO venture
An Post is looking to launch its own-branded mobile phone service in the summer of 2009.
Read MoreTag: Vodafone
An Post sees the point of a top-up for all mobile networks
Consumers in Ireland will be able to buy a mobile phone top-up that works for all networks from PostPoint retail outlets around the country.
With the current split between pre-pay and post-pay standing at 71pc and 29pc respectively, this is a welcome development for mobile phone users.
An AllCall voucher can be used to top up anyone using Vodafone, O2, Meteor or 3 and it’s valid for 12 months from purchase.
Irish company Xelcius Digital Interactive is behind the technology that will supply the AllCall vouchers through EPOS and terminal systems in PostPoint outlets.
Xelcius are providing PostPoint with generic codes that relate to the EUR 10 and EUR 20 denominations. A customer who buys a top-up gets a voucher with a unique code on it. Customers text the voucher code to a short code number. The texter then receives a text message with the top-up PIN number for the network they’re on and they top up in the normal way.
PostPoint was set up initially to complement the Post Office network and allow An Post to offer its services in a wider, more consumer-friendly fashion to the traditional network.
It enabled An Post to win a contract to provide electronic top-ups to Eircell (now Vodafone) through its network, as well as at post office counters. In April 2007, PostPoint became a subsidiary of the new retail bank Postbank, as part of the joint venture between An Post and European financial services provider Fortis.
Read MoreBarclays launches mobile banking service in India
UK bank Barclays has launched a mobile banking service in India that enables customers to transfer funds, pay bills and make account enquiries using their handsets.
The new m-banking service – called Hello Money – will cost customers Rs30 a month.
Customers signed up to the service dial a number before entering a PIN and choosing the option they want from a Hindi or English menu.
Hello Money is available through all GSM handsets on the Airtel, Vodafone and Idea networks in 40 Indian cities. The bank is looking to extend the service to CDMA handsets in the future.
Barclays says the system – which is based on ‘unstructured supplementary service data’ (USSD) technology – is easier to use than SMS and GPRS mobile banking services, which often involve several steps such as application downloads and can be costly as customers are charged for SMS or GPRS subscription every time they use the service.
The bank says its new m-bankig system can bring financial services to India’s 184 million unbanked population.
Read MoreTechnology: Ring tones seek to rival Dubai
Older residents of Cairo remember the days of the party or shared line. Ring, ring. Both parties to the line – there were at least two – would race to the phone. If you got there second, the next door flat with whom the telephone was shared would ting the receiver to alert you to the fact that the call was for you.
And then there were international phone lines. Or rather there were not. Waiting lists ran into years, and the lucky recipient would have to leave a large deposit.
This persisted through the 1990s. And then came the GSM revolution.
Ten years on, mobile penetration rates by three mobile operators stand at 28m or about 35 per cent of the population, according to the ministry of communications and information technology. Other estimates put the penetration rate at up to 38 per cent.
The cheapest sim card can be bought for EGBP25 (USD5). ADSL line rental starts at EGBP45 a month. There are 400,000 DSL subscribers and 11.5m fixed-line users – up from 10.7m last year, according to ministry numbers.
Last year Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates paid USD2.9bn for a 15-year GSM and 3G licence. At the time the price was considered to be full.
But Etisalat in Egypt already has around 3m subscribers in nine months of operation. Etisalat owns 66 per cent of the subsidiary.
The remaining shares are held by a consortium including Egypt Post, National Bank of Egypt and Commercial International Bank, a local institution.
Observers are waiting for the granting of a second fixed-line licence next year.
Read MoreItaly's post office aims to have 2 mln mobile phone clients within 3 years
Poste Italiane SpA, the company that runs Italy’s post offices, aims to have 2 mln clients and 500 mln eur in revenues within three years through its PosteMobile virtual mobile operator, daily La Stampa cited CEO Massimo Sarmi as saying.
PosteMobile, which will rent the telecommunications network from Vodafone, offers its clients a series of services including using their mobile phones to transfer money, check the balance on their checking account or pay bills.
‘The investments are significant but we have some advantages: we don’t have to build a network and for payments we have a platform that handles 10 mln electronic cards,’ Sarmi said, according to the daily.
Sarmi believes his target is ‘reasonable’ despite the saturation of the mobile phone market for these reasons.
According to Poste Italiane, the Italian post office is the first postal group worldwide to join the telephone services sector.
Read MorePost & Parcel Magazine
Post & Parcel Magazine is our print publication, released 3 times a year. Packed with original content and thought-provoking features, Post & Parcel Magazine is a must-read for those who want the inside track on the industry.