SONOFON signs deal with SmartTrust to boost mobile services across corporate customers

Value Added Services (VAS) for corporate sector fall short of those offered to consumers. Deal shows new ways of boosting mobile services to corporate customers.

Danish mobile operator SONOFON is looking to leverage the largely unexploited corporate customer sector following a deal announced today with SmartTrust. SONOFON has become the first operator to select the recently launched SmartTrust Corporate Application Package, designed to maximize value for corporate customers and increase service revenues by offering value added services (VAS) tailored specifically to their voice and data needs.

Corporate customers account for 20 per cent of Western Europe's subscriber base yet they generate over 50 per cent of all service revenues*. Despite such importance, VAS for corporate customers fall far short of those offered to the consumer market. SmartTrust has looked to address the shortage, offering operators the tools required to help corporate customers manage their own costs and SIM-based applications across their entire user base. Such applications may include access to internal applications and data and even integration with web services to deliver live online data feeds.

"Service differentiation for the corporate market is predominantly fought over price and discounted calls. However, the consumer market has shown that users are also genuinely attracted to services that add real value, something many operators have overlooked," explains Lars Irenius, sales director for Nordic and Eastern Europe at SmartTrust. "When you combine the sector churn rate with the fact that subscriber acquisition costs are double that of a prepaid consumer you begin to realize the importance of the sector. SONOFON is one of the first to understand that there is more that can be done to reduce this churn and increase service revenues than simple price wars."

Using SmartTrust's solution, corporate customers are offered tools that provide web-based administrative interfaces for individual or group-wide handset and SIM management. For the first time, corporate customers can manage their own services and control mobile phone usage and cost, corporate applications and phone books on the mobile device.

"Corporate Provisioning provides a perfect means for introducing new areas of service to our corporate customers," explains Steen Høgh, Market Director at SONOFON. "Corporations can now have tailored services that are always available, accurate data from internal applications and a far superior method of managing costs internally."

With only one request by the company administrator, all company phones can be simultaneous updated with new applications and data, including; the complete corporate phonebook and enterprise data integrated from existing network applications such as the CRM system. Running on top of SmartTrust's Delivery Platform and WIBT technology, the handset can also be integrated with Web Services to allow live access to data and applications.

"We have achieved something that up to now has only been available, if available at all, through expensive integration projects. To many, the idea of VAS for the corporate market has been limited to dedicated service representatives, discounted billing plans and online billing information. With growing competition in this market sector, such services are simply no longer enough," finishes Steen Høgh.

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About SmartTrust
SmartTrust is a leading developer of infrastructure solutions designed to provide mobile subscribers with easy to use and secure personalized services. Using SmartTrust's solutions, mobile operators are able to mange and optimise both handsets and GSM/3G (U)SIM cards to deploy revenue-generating Value Added Services (VAS). Operators that have implemented SmartTrust's solutions have significantly reduced churn and increased ARPU.

More than 85 SmartTrust systems have been deployed with leading operators around the world. Customers include Vodafone UK, D2, Telenor, SONOFON, Cosmote, MTN, T-Mobil, Cingular Wireless, China Mobile, Airtel/Bharti Cellular, Virgin Mobile, M1 and Satelindo. The SmartTrust CertifiedTM Partner Program includes all major SIM vendors that have licensed its technology for implementation within their cards. Over 30 million WIB-enabled SIM cards are now in circulation with SIM vendor partnerships covering 95% of the SIM card industry.

The company is headquartered in Sweden with a regional presence in Finland, UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, Malaysia, India, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United States.

Additional information and news on SmartTrust can be found at www.smarttrust.com.

About SONOFON
SONOFON is the second largest telco in Denmark which focuses on providing useful, straightforward telecoms services to a technologically advanced market. The Group has annual turnover of more than DKK 3.5 billion, a mobile customer base of 1,143,000 and about 1,400 staff. SONOFON Is owned by Telenor (53.5%) and BellSouth (46.5%).

For more information, please contact:
Tim De Luca-Smith, MUSTARD PR
Tel: +44 (0) 1753 889100
Email: tim@mustardpr.com