Telefónica has announced a package of pricing propositions that will offer its European customers major reductions in the cost of using mobile data services whilst travelling.  Consumers in Spain, the UK, Germany, the Czech Republic and Ireland will benefit from cuts of more than 40% in data roaming prices, while the cost of sending a text message home from anywhere in the European Union falls to a maximum of €0.32 + VAT.  For business travellers who wish to stay connected while abroad, a new roaming bundle provides worldwide access to data at a price equivalent to €1 per megabyte (MB).  These changes form an important part of the company's continuing drive to increase the transparency and simplicity of mobile charges.

O2 businesses and movistar in Spain will implement a range of new data roaming tariffs aimed at consumers travelling within Europe ahead of this year's summer holiday season in July.  These will include both significant reductions in the per-MB price and the introduction of time-based charging principles, such as daily rates.  The resultant savings for customers will be anything between 42% and 80% over November 2007 prices.

Recognising the ever-increasing popularity of text messaging as a way of staying in touch, both prepay and postpay consumers will, starting from early February, pay no more than €0.32 to send an SMS from any EU country – representing a reduction of up to 49% on current prices.  The new rate will apply to all customers by April.  It will cost nothing to receive a text. 

O2 and movistar business customers, who typically have much heavier data access and download requirements, can take advantage of a highly competitive new data bundle.  For a flat monthly fee of €50, business travellers may use 50MB of data on any roaming partner network worldwide.  At €1 per MB, this is particularly attractive to multi-national customers, as it allows them to benefit from a single tariff wherever they travel.  The package is available now in Spain, the UK, the Czech Republic and Ireland and will be introduced in Germany in the second quarter of 2008.

Matthew Key, chairman and CEO of Telefónica O2 Europe, said: "This initiative follows similar innovation by Telefónica in voice roaming, with the introduction last year of our highly successful My Europe roaming price plans – the first to completely remove charges for receiving calls abroad.  Today's announcement honours the promise we made to customers at that time that, having reduced the cost of calling whilst abroad, we would bring down the last barrier in roaming charges – data.  Importantly, it also addresses the issue of transparency where, for too long, customers have been confused by a plethora of tariffs and fees.  The published rate will apply across the board – regardless of the mobile network used."

"We remain absolutely committed to delivering the best value to our customers and are proactively looking to further reduce the wholesale inter-operator tariffs (IOTs) in order to pass on additional benefits to users."

Telefónica says it also intends to increase the transparency of data roaming prices and reduce the possibility of bill shock by combining its simple tariff schemes with a range of usage monitoring tools.  From March 2008, mobile laptop users will be able to monitor their data usage in real time via their 'Connection Manager' software, while all roaming customers will automatically receive a text message containing SMS, data and voice pricing information.  In addition, O2 and movistar customers will not incur penalties if their phone selects a non-preferred network – removing any potential concerns about hidden charges.

Private Mobile Networks, the UK provider of private GSM network technology, has today announced it will be running a public demonstration of its Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) to deliver a secure private GSM network at the upcoming GSMA Mobile World Congress. 

Following the completion of several beta implementations within the construction industry and within the military services, the RDU will be demonstrated within the exhibition highlighting its ability to deploy in any environment.

"We first starting talking about the concept of a ‘GSM in a box' when we exhibited at Mobile World Congress last year," comments Dean Parsons, Managing Director of Private Mobile Networks Ltd.  "12 months later, we have product which passes all the required certification standards; a number of early adopter customers and a couple of very large projects that we hope to be announcing shortly," added Parsons.

The GSM rapid deployment unit is a plug-and-play solution; it takes less than 5 minutes to power up and provides coverage using a standard GSM phone within a 500m omni-directional radius.  The GSM traffic can also be used to communicate with other sites over any IP network connections.  The unit is either battery or mains powered with over 4 hours standby and links back into the public network can be made through the PSTN, satellite or line-of-sight equipment.  The unit also contains an FXO Gateway as standard with an optional satellite router.

"Mobile World Congress this year is a chance for us to show that we deliver on our promises and that ‘GSM in a box' is productised and generally available to the open market," comments Parsons.   "Although Barcelona is less challenging then a North Sea oil rig or isolated construction site, having the RDU simply on our stand for anybody to examine and interact with is part of our vision that the unit should be simple, rugged and foolproof, which is something we hope to prove during the event," he concluded.

Arqiva has today announced a contract with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), Scotland's biggest regional transport partnership, which will see Arqiva's Wireless Solutions division design and deploy a combined cellular and WiFi network across 15 Glasgow Subway stations. Deployment of the network will begin later this month, with initial testing at Buchanan Street Subway station.

The new network will enable customers to use the Internet and mobile phones when at these stations, and provide public access to WiFi services.  SPT is the owner and operator of Glasgow's unique Subway system. The organisation is undertaking a programme of Subway modernisation and efficiencies. It also sees great potential in WiFi technology to migrate some of its existing applications and services onto the network such as ticketing and CCTV. 

Gordon Maclennan, Assistant Chief Executive of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport, commented: "This is a real milestone for SPT as the state-of-the-art technology employed will realise our ambition of continuous improvement to services on the Subway. Accessibility and connectivity are vital in today's fast moving technology environment and I'm delighted that SPT has enabled Glasgow to set the standard of being the first city to provide both 2G & 3G phone and WiFi coverage on the subway. The new network should also reassure our customers that we are regularly responding to changing passenger needs. Any application which enhances passenger safety and delivers better services is high on our agenda."

Howard Williams, Business Development Manager for Arqiva's Wireless Solutions division, added: "As the UK moves closer to wirelessly-enabled areas, the benefits that wireless networks can provide are being recognised and cities need to capitalise on this. In its entirety the network is not just about meeting the needs of the general public; it is also about generating cost savings and efficiencies for the organisation and its counterparts."

At last years' show, Actimagine unveiled Mobiclip, a video codec that promises truly exceptional performance for mobile phones. Mobiclip reads and displays DVD-quality videos, without compromising battery life.  This year at the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2008, Actimagine will present the world preview of mobiclip.com.

Mobiclip.com is a web portal that enables users to manage their videos and watch them instantly in high definition format on the mobile phone. With just a few clicks users have access to their videos anytime, anywhere, and on any mobile phone model independently of wireless telecom network coverage.

Video on demand, live television, Internet video downloads, personal videos and webcam videos are all available. Now it is possible to manage any video content via Mobiclip.com and view it anytime, anywhere on a mobile phone. As soon as the user accesses a 2.5, 3G, or Wi-Fi telephone network, the video content that is selected and stored on the Mobiclip.com portal is immediately synchronised with the mobile phone and is available for viewing. Video content can also be downloaded directly from the web portal to mobile phones at any time by simply connecting it to a PC with a USB cable, eliminating the need to access a Wi-Fi or telecom network.

The worldwide market for contactless technology in transportation ticketing and contactless payments grew more than 15 percent in 2007. And the market now stands at a value of more than $200 million but will reach more than $820 million by 2013, according to the latest market analysis from ABI Research.

Positive growth in contactless card rollouts took place during the last half of 2007, while the uptake of contactless capabilities in mobile handsets – called NFC (Near Field Communication) – continued to be stymied by difficulties in bringing the technology to the consumer market. Accordingly, NFC handsets did not ship in any volume toward the end of 2007 and the market will remain limited for the first half of 2008.

ABI says it now believes there will be longer than anticipated delays to NFC deployments and has again adjusted its latest quarter and next annual figures accordingly: the previous forecasts for total NFC device shipments stood at 1.1 million for 2007, and 9.81 million for 2008. The revised forecast stands at 0.65 million and 6.52 million respectively. However, says principal analyst Jon Collins, "Given the strength and interest among carriers around the world for NFC, our long-term forecasts remain unchanged."

ABI says that NFC rollout will be supported by the widespread adoption of contactless transportation and payment systems. Last year saw contactless transportation making greater inroads into public transport systems around the world, with some notable switches to contactless single use ticketing too.

However, the bulk of the growth of contactless demand over the next five years will stem from the uptake of contactless payments from cards and mobile handsets, says ABI. Europe took its first real steps toward contactless payment adoption in 2007. The initial UK contactless rollout in London that began in the second half of the year will prove a bellwether for the technology in Europe, especially given the scale of the initial rollout and the integration of contactless with the established EMV smartcard payment system.

Zi Corporation, a provider of intelligent interface solutions, has today announced a new license agreement for its predictive text products, eZiText and eZiType with Norway-based Trolltech ASA.

Zi Corporation's eZiText and eZiType have been integrated on Qtopia Phone Edition, an application platform and user interface for Linux-based devices, to offer advanced text entry for Chinese and alphabetic languages. Trolltech has integrated eZiText and eZiType as part of the Qtopia Greensuite initiative, which offers pre-integrated market leading partner components on top of Qtopia Phone Edition.

Qtopia Phone Edition is developed by Trolltech for device manufacturers that wish to enable faster handset development and commercial deployment.

eZiText and eZiType will be the integrated text input tools available as part of the Qtopia Greensuite initiative and includes features such as word completion, dual language prediction and auto-correction.  Zi will receive royalties for every handset enabled with eZiText and eZiType that is sold through Trolltech's channels.

This latest integration comes less than a year after Trolltech announced eZiText on its Qtopia Greenphone project, demonstrating how quickly users can draft text messages, thereby improving device usability. 

Haavard Nord, Trolltech CEO, commented, "With the Qtopia Greensuite initiative, we are looking to offer device manufacturers the most comprehensive application platform for efficiently creating Linux-based devices. In order to do so, we need to work with industry-leading partners.  Zi has shown through its work with us on the Greenphone last year that it offers a complete solution that is in high demand, so we are extremely pleased to feature its software."

"Following the success of eZiText and Decuma on the Greenphone, we are delighted that Trolltech has chosen to take our solution to the next level and integrate it onto its UI platform," said Milos Djokovic, President and CEO of Zi Corporation.  "The Qtopia Greensuite initiative provides an all-in-one solution for handset integration, which helps accelerate the development process.  With the addition of eZiType, Linux developers will have access to exceptional predictive text software."

ABI Research has predicted that Linux will power about 31 percent of all Smartphones sold in 2012, and by then will have shipped in 331 million devices.  It also forecasts 75 percent CAGR (compound annual growth rate) for Linux in Smartphones through 2012, making it the fastest-growing OS in the sector.

At the end of 2006, it was reported that several million Qtopia-based devices have shipped to date, and Qtopia has become the de-facto standard for Linux handset makers with 120 manufacturers building Qtopia devices – 40 of which are mobile phones.

Pontis, the creator of the 'world's first' Marketing Delivery Platform for Communication Service Providers, has today announced that it will be demonstrating the latest version of its flagship solution at the forthcoming Mobile World Congress in February.

Pontis created the Marketing Delivery Platform to enable communication service providers to target customers with personalised marketing offers ‘on the fly'.  Using this system operators are able to communicate with, and target customers individually, based on their profiles, behaviour and real time usage. For example, the solution can be used by operators to re-engage dormant users, promote a handset upgrade or deliver personalised bundles based on their lifestyle, characteristics and interests.

The solution also enables the long term management of multiple marketing offers over an extended period of time and, by automating the marketing and sales processes across multiple platforms and channels, the Pontis system also dramatically reduces the complexity and time-to-market for launching new offers.

Following recent updates, the solution also now features an infrastructure for enhanced segmentation, KPI and usage analysis. This is the foundation for its new approach for "goal-based planning" capabilities, enabling marketers to define specific business objectives such as ‘expand usage' or ‘reduce churn'.

Pontis' solution has already been successfully deployed with leading operators including Nextel, 3 and, most recently, Brasil Telecom and the new version has been developed based on feedback from customers. 

Guy Talmi Senior Marketing Director at Pontis comments: "In the saturated mobile space, operators need to work harder than ever at reducing churn and improving ARPU. The mass-marketing approach in which services and bundles of products are offered with limited flexibility in terms of customisation, are failing to ignite interest from customers. Effective, targeted offerings which are communicated at the right time and through the right channels are changing all this – with compelling results."

Pontis will be exhibiting the Marketing Delivery Platform at Stand 2D30 in Hall 2 at the Mobile World Congress from 11-14 February in Barcelona.