Comviva Signs MoU with Starfish Mobile
Further Strengthens its Ring Back Tone Content Portfolio in Africa
Nairobi- 21st March, 2011: Comviva, the global leader in providing mobile solutions beyond VAS, today announced that it has signed an MoU with Starfish Mobile International Inc., one of the leading content aggregators and mobile marketing agencies in Africa. This tie-up with Starfish Mobile will further strengthen Comviva’s RBT (Ring Back Tone) content portfolio in the region.
With this partnership, both Comviva and Starfish Mobile bring their expertise and resources to the table with the content strategy that allows mobile operators to drive the quantity of users on their networks and to achieve sustainable usage of their services.
Speaking on the partnership, Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Comviva said, “Music is one application that has proved a major success with subscribers globally, with subscribers embracing various music-based services such as Ring Back Tones. Comviva’s RBT is constantly evolving to meet the growing needs of subscribers across markets as well as support flexible business models that address operator requirements in the African market. The combination of partnering with Starfish Mobile, a leading African content aggregator, together with our proven expertise in deploying and managing music services for operators across multiple growth markets, will further drive the success of ring back tone services in Africa.”
“We are excited about this partnership as Starfish Mobile works closely with a number of both local and international to source an extensive selection of ring back tones that cater to the diverse tastes of consumers across Africa,” further added Mr. Mohapatra.
Commenting on the partnership, Per Ostberg, Chairman, Starfish Mobile International Inc., said, “We see a great opportunity for ring back tones services in Africa. At Starfish Mobile we have developed a content strategy that allows mobile operators to drive the quantity of users on their networks and to achieve sustainable usage of their latest high tech products. Our partnership with Comviva will further add value to operators’ RBT services and extending their appeal to a broader subscriber base as well as expanding our reach in Africa and thus increasing our local and international content partners’ exposure to a variety of markets. We look forward to extend our existing partnerships and footprint in Africa with Comviva.”
Comviva’s RBT content portfolio enables operators to provide a wide range of personalized mobile music applications, allowing subscribers to reflect their personality and emotions using Comviva’s RBT applications. The solution has witnessed huge success with over 13 million subscribers on a single operator network and deployed by over 20 operators across the globe. Comviva has continuously enhanced its RBT offering to maintain subscriber stickiness, introducing ‘Star 2 Copy’ to simplify usage, ‘”A” Party Caller Tunes’ to provide callers with a choice of tune and AdsRBT to promote subscriber-relevant brands and enable subsidized service usage. Handset and SIM independent, RBT is available to all subscribers, whether prepaid, postpaid, fixed or wireless.
About Starfish Mobile International Inc.
Starfish Mobile International Inc. is one of the leading content aggregators and mobile marketing agencies in Africa with operations in 21 territories across several mobile operators and has relationships with over 350 content providers and over 60 major FMCG and blue chip global brands. Starfish Mobile has a large stable of white label and unique content.
About Comviva
Comviva is the global leader in providing mobile solutions beyond VAS. With an extensive portfolio of solutions spanning VAS infrastructure, applications delivery platforms and customer-facing applications, Comviva enables mobile service providers to enrich mobile users’ lives, whilst rationalizing costs, accelerating revenue growth and enhancing customer lifetime value. Comviva’s solutions are deployed by service providers in over 85 countries and power services to more than 650 million mobile subscribers globally. For more information, visit www.comviva.com
