Conexus Mobile Alliance Announces Daily Flat-Rate Data Roaming in Vietnam and Macau
– Also Introduces SMS Roaming Alert Feature for Travellers;
– Partners Hutchison Global Communications (HGC) to Deliver Full-Featured Business E-Mail Hosting Service;
– Supports Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) to Accelerate Open-Standards Mobile Applications Development Worldwide
15 June 2010
Conexus Mobile Alliance?s popular daily flat-rate data roaming tariff plan is now available in Vietnam, the first mobile alliance in the world to offer it in that country. The programme has also expanded into Macau. This announcement comes as Conexus Mobile Alliance adopts a number of initiatives to boost mobile data roaming and data usage across the region.
In June, mobile travellers of Taiwan?s FET, Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong and Singapore?s StarHub will be able to enjoy the predictability and flexibility of managing their mobile bills when staying in Vietnam, through the Alliance?s daily flat-rate roaming programme. Mobile customers of Indonesia?s Indosat, Japan?s NTT DOCOMO [1], and Thailand?s TrueMove will soon enjoy this benefit, when they travel to Vietnam, over the next few months.
Similarly, FET, Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong, Indosat, StarHub and TrueMove will extend this service to Macau in June, with NTT DOCOMO [2] following closely over the next few months.
Said Mr Chan Kin Hung, Acting Chairman of Conexus Mobile Alliance, ?the programme is one of the Alliance?s key value-proposition to customers of member operators since its introduction in 2008. We believe it is a more customer-friendly way of data charging, and our customers will no longer experience a ?bill shock? at the end of the month. We expect that most operators in the Alliance will introduce their own flat-rate roaming programmes throughout 2010 in both Vietnam and Macau.?
Through the programme, travellers will be able to determine their mobile data roaming expenditure ahead of time by calculating how many days they will be using the roaming service in either Vietnam or Macau and multiplying that to a fixed rate provided by their Alliance operator. Rates for roaming in both countries will vary, depending on the operator. Customers are encouraged to visit their operator?s website to determine these rates.
Launches SMS Roaming Alert Feature
From today, eight Alliance members will offer the roaming alert feature to all their mobile customers that are travelling overseas. With this feature, users will be prompted automatically when their data roaming expenditure exceeds a certain threshold set. This threshold varies according to the operator, based on their customers? lifestyle needs. For example, Indonesia?s Indosat offers a staggered SMS roaming alert when the mobile data roaming charges exceed US$50, US$75 and US$150 a day; India?s MTNL allow customers to pre-determine their own threshold, and Japan?s NTT DOCOMO will alert customers when they hit US$500 (for voice and data) a month.
The member operators offering this roaming alert feature are as follows: Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong, Indosat, KT, MTNL, NTT DOCOMO, StarHub, TrueMove and Vinaphone, with FET to follow in the second half of 2010.
Partnership with Hutchison Global Communications (HGC)
Conexus Mobile Alliance today also announced its partnership with HGC to offer a one-stop fully-featured e-mail hosting service for businesses expanding in Asia. Available now in the ten countries with an Alliance presence, customers will be able to easily set up their email domain servers in Hong Kong utilising HGC’s extensive fibre-to-the-building network and with mailbox storage options ranging from 10MB to 2000MB. There are also various optional mobility solutions available for companies with employees who conduct frequent business travel in the region. Companies interested in the service may contact their local Alliance operator representative for more information.
“We are pleased to partner with a reputable, leading fixed-line telecom operator such as HGC to provide a scalable and cost-effective e-mail hosting solutions for member operators’ business customers in order to help regional corporations set up their email servers quickly and conveniently. As the Asian economy picks up and businesses expand steadily across the region, we expect a growing demand for such services. The Alliance is pleased to provide this value-added service to all corporate customers of member operators,” said Mr Chan.
Supports Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) to Accelerate Open-Standards Mobile Applications Development Worldwide
Finally, Conexus Mobile Alliance today announced its support to the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) initiative which was announced in February 2010 to promote the overall market for mobile applications.
The WAC was created to encourage open standardised technologies, drive scaled deployment of those technologies and provide complimentary commercial models on mobile applications. This will allow developers to deploy a single application across multiple devices (through the use of standard technologies) and across multiple operators. WAC will provide the commercial enablers which will allow the developer to be paid for the applications which are then sold through any associated application store.
?We believe that an open WAC will encourage more developers to come up with innovative, user-friendly and commercially-viable applications that could boost the take-up of mobile data globally and we are very happy to support this great initiative,? said Mr Chan.
?As one of the original proponent of WAC, KT is very pleased that Alliance members have announced its support of WAC. We believe this demonstrates a strong aspiration for creation of an open industry platform that benefits everybody ? from applications developers and network operators to mobile phone users themselves,? said Mr Hyun-Myung Pyo, President for Mobile Business Group of KT Corporation.
Conexus member operators currently participating in the WAC are as follows: KT, NTT DOCOMO, FET, Smart Communications, Inc (SMART) and StarHub. For information on WAC, visit: www.wholesaleappcommunity.com.
[1] Daily flat-rate applies for usage up to a specified threshold
[2] Daily flat-rate applies for usage up to a specified threshold