Russian Mobile Content News
Weekly Newsletter

Next Media & TNT presenting Dom-2 realty show voice portal
Next Media Entertainment, a subsidiary of Next Media Group, launched a voice portal for a popular TV realty show Dom-2. The company is a long-term mobile service partner of the TNT TV channel, providing from SMS interactive services to mobile Java games based on motives of the Dom-2 and Golod ("Hanger") TV realty shows. The voice protal is realized on Shamrock Technologies' platform, and it's the next step in technology service line provided by Next Media Group.
Source: http://www.mforum.ru/sub/content/news/017653.htm

Uralsvyazinform got a million of mobile users in Perm
A telecom holding UralSvyazInform has registered the millionth customer of its mobile network Utel in the Perm region. The first GSM user was registered in Perm eight years ago. According to Vladimir Kotomtsev, Utel's director, a monthly Utel's user SMS traffic is exceeding 15 million messages. A recent technology upgrade provides users the Internet access and MMS exchange. USSD and CaRem platforms have been also activated. Another platform called Space gives users an extended access to mobile content providers' services. Uralsvyazinform is a complex telecom operator in the Ural region, covering 1.9 mln sq. km with a population of 15 mln people. The company is holding 86% market share in fix telephone communications, 80% in long-distance connections, 40% in mobile and Internet communications in the Ural region. UralSvyazInform has 34 thousand staff.
Source: http://comnews.ru/index.cfm?id=19680&tempo=445

Britney Spears Adventures Java game by Qplaze-RME & Sony BMG
Britney Spears Adventures Java game is a new joint project of Qplaze-RME and Sony BMG. The game user helps a young singer Britney Spears to conquer a complicated world of show business. One helps Britney to pass all of 15 game levels (in a park, city or concert hall environment), collecting Grammy Awards at every level and finally getting her name on the Alley of Stars.
Source: http://www.mforum.ru/sub/content/news/017662.htm

SMS Media Solutions & SMARTS offer SMS services for Moslems
Moscow's mobile content provider SMS Media Solutions and a Central Russia's cellular operator SMARTS offer to Russian Moslems a service to receive prayers' detailed schedule on mobile phone. The user can indicate the exact time when he wants to receive a prayer schedule by sending SMS with UMMA NAMAZ keywords and the time indication to the service short number. The user can also receive a SMS reminder for a prayer specified.
Source: http://www.mforum.ru/sub/content/news/017686.htm

Next Media Group: Have question to minister? Send SMS!
"Send SMS to the Minister of Education and Science" project is launched by Next Media Group. The project is realized within a framework of the State Youth Policy information support. The Russian Government is preparing the Youth Policy Strategy document and wants to involve young people in the programme's development and discussion. Next Media Group developed a Website www.tebeslovo.ru ("speak") where one can participate in the Strategy document development. The site became a platform for online forum with the Russian Ministry of Education and Science representatives. Filling out online form one can send his/her questions to Andrey Fursenko, the Minister of Education and Science. Now a similar SMS service is realized (SMS costs $0.08). According to Armen Popov, the project head, the government is looking for new ways of communication. Youth is used to communicate over SMS. So why the minister should not try such a way.
Source: http://procontent.ru/?page=news&id=595

i-Free runs interactive promo for SUN Interbrew's beer
A VAS provider i-Free joined forces with Progression advertising agency to launch an interactive quiz titled Kinoproby ("Film Practice") to promote SUN Interbrew's Stella Artois beer sales and brand in Moscow's bars and restaurants. According to the Russian mobile market analysts, i-Free is currently one of Russia's top three mobile content providers in mobile marketing. In 2005 i-Free has completed about 60 partnership projects for major Russian and international FMCG companies, banks, broadcasters, Internet providers, film studios, etc. Kinoproby is an SMS film quiz with guaranteed prizes. When one orders two glasses of Stella Artois in a participating Moscow bar, he receives a scratch card with questions and his individual code to send by SMS ($0.15). A confirmation arrives a few seconds later. If the answer was correct, the user is to show his SMS message and scratch card to the bar person to receive the prize: a Stella Artois glass and a 330 ml beer. If your answer was wrong you get your Stella Artois glass anyway.
Source: http://www.mforum.ru/sub/content/news/017724.htm

Skyspell sends Cherished wish to the Wailing Wall by SMS
St. Petersburg's content provider Skyspell launched an SMS service allowing its users to send a Cherished wish to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. The user sends an SMS containing a wish on service number 7107. The message will be delivered to Skyspell's server in Jerusalem, printed out and put in the Wall by the company representative. After SMS is sent, in a few minutes it is displayed on an LCD screen - the only one placed at the Wall. The service user can see a live image of the screen by the Internet. The messages are printed out and put in the Wall once a day. The service cost is $0.99 per SMS. A substantial part of $300,000 invested in the project was spent to install the vandal and climate-proof screen at the Wall.
Source: http://comnews.ru/index.cfm?id=19740&tempo=445

INFON helps TELE2 with WAP site
On December 01 a Swedish cellular operator TELE2 started GPRS service for its Russian customers. St. Petersburg's VAS provider INFON developed an official WAP site for TELE2. INFON has also supplied the WAP site with mobile content. The content is offered with 20% discount of the market price. TELE2 is struggling for its market share in Russia. But they have come too late. And even offering the cheapest mobile rates in St. Petersburg, they cannot really compete with well-established Russian cellular operators Megafon, MTS, VimpelCom and SkyLink. Besides, TELE2's Russian users are still complaining for the service quality.
Source: http://cellnews.ru/news/soft/15-12-2005/2713.htm

SMARTS launched "Light your star" Christmas SMS service
SMARTS' subsidiary Shupashkar GSM launched a Christmas service called "Light your star". The service user is charged $0.30 for an SMS sent to 777 short number. The money will be spent to purchase one bulb on a huge Christmas tree in Cheboksary city. The cellular operator is planning to light 20 garlands with a total length of over two kilometers. Three users sent the maximum number of SMS messages will be invited to participate in the Christmas tree official light up.
Source: http://sotaweek.ru/news/data/15120535.htm

SkyLink speeding up mobile Internet
A CDMA-450 operator SkyLink launched EV-DO technology in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The technology, running on Lucent Technologies's equipment, will speed up max data transmission from 153K/sec to 2.4M/sec. The service will be promoted under Sky Turbo name and will be focused on mobile Internet users. SkyLink is planning to develop an appropriate content for that speed like video streaming, mobile TV and BREW based content. The SkyLink holding was founded in 2003 to realize a federal CDMA-450 cellular network project. The Sistema holding and RTDK company are SkyLink's shareholders. Started in St. Petersburg in 2002 on a base of DeltaTelecom company, then in Moscow on a base of Moskovskaya Sotovaya Svyaz company (MCC), SkyLink networks are currently operating in 19 Russian cities including Novosibirsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Izhevsk.
Source: http://spbit.ru/news/n3913/

HeroCraft's multiplayer multiplatform game for handsets
Battle Cake X-mas is a new arcade action game for mobile devices. This game is the first ever true multiplayer game for PDAs and smartphones that lets users who own different types of handsets from different manufacturers and run by different operating systems play together. For example, one person can play the game on Pocket PC Dell Axim x50v, another on Palm Os Treo 650, third on Windows Mobile i-mate sp3i based smartphone, and the fourth one on a phone run by Symbian OS N-Gage QD. The only requirement is all devices must have Bluethooth connectivity to let the game players interacting with each other in real-time. Battle Cake X-mas costs $14.95. The game runs on Windows Mobile OS, Palm OS and Symbian OS mobile devices. Founded in 2005, HeroCraft HiTech Co. Ltd. is a partner company of Herocraft, a leading Russian developer of mobile games based in Kaliningrad.
Source: http://www.hitech.herocraft.com

MTS offers mobile (SMS) banking service in Belarus
On December 15 a leading Russian cellular operator MTS launched a mobile (SMS) banking service to Belagroprombank clients in Belarus. Sending an SMS request the service users can receive on their mobile phones information on their current accounts in Belarusian rubles, amounts of transactions made, a daily statement of accounts. To get access to the service, clients of Belagroprombank have to sign a separate agreement with the bank.
Source: http://sotaweek.ru/news/data/16120550.htm

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