Telcordia, mPortal partner on content offering, Oracle demos content management service

Telcordia Technologies and mPortal Inc. are joining forces to provide an end-to-end content solution for mobile virtual network operators.
The companies this week plan to unveil a platform that couples Telcordia’s hosted delivery and billing services with mPortal’s content library, which includes more than 25,000 ringtones, wallpapers and games. The offering will use mPortal’s client, which resides on the handset and is designed to provide a simplified user interface for accessing content.
“Telcordia has had a hosted service offering for MVNOs for the last two years; we were initially focused on providing real-time charging and voice services for MVNOs,” said Cathy McMahon, Telcordia’s executive director of product management for hosted solutions. “We’ve been very successful with that. But certainly, one of the needs our customers continue to have and will continue to have . is the ability to offer expanded services beyond voice.”
The firms are hoping to help MVNOs differentiate themselves from each other-and their operator counterparts-by allowing them to bring a wide variety mobile content to market quicker. And they’re looking to provide unique, targeted services, such as Telcordia’s application that allows parents with Disney Mobile L.L.C. wireless service to create spending limits and split minute allotments among their mobile-using children.
“The carrier model is by definition a one-size-fits-all model,” said D.P. Venkatesh, founder and CEO of mPortal. “The MVNO model is much more marketing-aligned. They’re capable of saying, ‘This is the kind of customer we’re targeting.’ They are much more keen on creating a different product, a different user experience.”
Also, because they’re more nimble than their bigger, network-owning brothers, MVNOs can be more flexible and creative in deploying wireless content and services. Disney Mobile, for instance, offers prioritized “family alert” text messages and GPS-enabled child-tracking. Amp’d Mobile Inc. targets teens and young adults with cutting-edge content, and is packaging Motorola Inc.’s Q smartphone with place-shifting offerings from Sling Media and Orb Networks Inc. Kajeet, a new service aimed at 8- to 15-year-olds, allows parents to determine who can call or text their children as well as blocking phone usage during certain times of day, such as during school hours.
Telcordia performs content delivery and back-end heavy lifting for 13 MVNO customers worldwide. MPortal, which was founded in 2000, boasts content partners such as the Associated Press, Reuters, AOL L.L.C. and TV Guide.
Up against Oracle
This week’s announcement comes on the heels of the unveiling of a one-stop content management and settlement offering from Oracle, a Telcordia competitor. Oracle last week demonstrated technology designed to help media and entertainment companies manage intellectual property rights and increase revenue as they distribute their wares across wireless networks, the Internet and television screens.