Kim Hartlev, CTO at UK-based mobile messaging specialist Synchronica, discusses the company’s plans to integrate its recent acquisitions and expand its operations.
CommsMEA: Synchronica has made several acquisitions recently, including Nokia’s branded messaging business. How is the integration process going?
We have done several acquisitions in the past couple of years and our software now allows operators to offer subscribers push email, IM and access to social networking. Following the Nokia deal we currently have a dual product strategy. We have the Nokia products more for developed markets and our established Mobile Gateway more for emerging markets.
There are areas where both platforms have advantages. But it is definitely the intention to merge the two. We need to bring the best of both worlds together.
CommsMEA: Tell me more about Synchronica’s transcoding technology.
The transcoding technology is a component of Mobile Gateway and is currently being integrated into the Nokia product line as well. It allows us to convert large images to the same quality on your mobile device, but using a few kilobytes rather than megabytes. We also have the ability to zoom in on images, so it gives you quite a bit of functionality. We have seen interest from operators because they are getting increasingly worried about the higher bandwidth consumption in their networks. We are now seeing interest from operators, especially in the developed world, who would like this as a standalone service.
CommsMEA: How important is the MEA region for Synchronica?
It is a very important region for us. Even though we have acquired Nokia’s messaging business, which is focused very much on the developed world, we still believe the developing world is where we will see the biggest growth. I saw some numbers from Cisco which said the strongest data growth in the world will come from the Middle East by 2015, and also that within two years the region will have around 46 million mobile email users and 43 million IM users generating around $9 billion in revenue. We are well positioned because we have 35 operator customers in 29 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
CommsMEA: What are you doing to increase end-user use of your services?
We have employed some key account managers in the region to work closely with the operators on marketing campaigns, take-up rates and post-sales activities to try to boost take-up rates. We have had very good success with it in other regions so we are employing a similar tactic here. We tend to hire people that have worked in the value added services department of an operator so they know how this works in and out and can really help them with the marketing campaign. In Latin America we have been very successful where we have pushed operators to do print media and even TV adverts for the services.
In terms of new functions, we are working with the concept of location-based services. We are working with the concept of who is near you and what is near you, and that will allow operators to monetise premium places. For example, operators will be able to alert subscribers to nearby locations, allowing cafes and retailers to send messages to the subscriber to attract them to their outlet. This will offer an additional revenue stream for the operators.
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Feb 3, 2012 , United Kingdom
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