LAS VEGAS-Sonera’s zed portal service won a major victory last week as wireless carrier Vodafone U.K. adopted the services for use in the United Kingdom. Vodafone Group plc offers its own portal service to carriers in conjunction with Vivendi, called Vizzavi, and the carrier plans to offer both sets of services, proving carriers around the world are beginning to see the importance of offering as many choices to subscribers as possible.
The data services are available via text messaging for Vodafone’s 11.6 million postpaid and prepaid customers. Revenues are shared between zed and Vodafone. Examples of zed services that Vodafone will offer include mobile games, TV guides and details of top clubs.
Powertel in the United States also uses zed technology.
“Customers want choice, just like on TV,” said Steve Fleischer, vice president of investor relations and corporate communications for Sonera Corporation U.S.
The announcement follows a trend in the industry in which wireless carriers are taking a more proactive role in determining what data services they plan to offer users, rather than waiting for vendors to tell them what they should provide.
“Carriers are identifying data as a must and know they need to be a part of it in order to own the customer,” added Fleischer.
Along with niche content providers, large vendors, such as Lucent Technologies Inc., L.M. Ericsson and Motorola Inc., touted their application and service offerings to carriers at last week’s Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association’s Wireless 2001 conference last week. Companies are stressing their complete offerings of data applications, based on their own technology development, partnerships with content providers and acquisitions of content companies and technology and hoping carriers will see something they like.
Scott Fox, the newly appointed chairman of the GSM Association and president of network management and operations for Wireless Facilities Inc., said application choices will become even more important as third-generation timeframes slip from original predictions.
“Carriers realize it’s going to take longer for 3G, but they’re still moving ahead,” he said.
Fox added the UMTS delays in Europe and high license and buildout fees have placed a greater focus on GPRS networks and the applications around those networks.
Sonera, which holds UMTS licenses in five countries in Europe-Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway and Spain-knows all too well the concerns surrounding 3G technology. The company plans to sell its stakes in Powertel and VoiceStream Wireless Inc. to help it pay for its large 3G debtload.
The Finnish carrier has been fingered as a takeover target in the consolidating mobile industry. Fleischer admitted that carriers need “scale and scope” to effectively compete in the wireless market, and it has never ruled out a merger or acquisition.
“Sonera has tremendous assets, which make it attractive as a partner,” Fleischer said.
Along with the carrier’s leading position in Finland as a wireless and wireline service provider, the carrier’s zed subsidiary has partnerships with Radiolinja in Finland, D1 and D2 in Germany, Telecom Italia Mobile in Italy, KPN in the Netherlands, the Philippines’ Smart Communications, MobileOne in Singapore and Turkcell in Turkey, as well as Powertel.
In addition, Sonera SmartTrust Ltd. offers security and service management services based on wireless public key infrastructure technology to carriers. SmartTrust currently serves nearly 60 mobile operators around the globe.
Security technology from SmartTrust is being used in the United Kingdom’s first secure mobile digital signature trial. Run by Vodafone U.K. and the Radiocommunications Agency, the trial will test the effectiveness of digital signatures within mobile e-commerce. The technology would allow mobile users to generate legally binding digital signatures for online mobile transactions and use them in much the same way they would use a handwritten signature, SmartTrust said.
