HOTLINK FIRST TO LAUNCH CALLER RINGTONES IN MALAYSIA Latest ringtone innovation set to enhance mobile personalisation and communication

Hotlink from Maxis Communications Berhad today unveiled Caller Ringtones, the industrys first 'ringback service that is set to capture a bigger slice of the thriving ringtone business. Caller Ringtones replaces the standard connecting tone callers conventionally hear on the phone with music and sound effects while they wait for their call to the Hotlink customer to be connected. With this service, callers can now be entertained as how call recipients have been kept amused via ringtones before the call gets picked up. The service, not unlike ringtones, is built on consumers increasing appetite for mobile personalisation and communication.

Kuala Lumpur (PRWEB) July 23, 2004 -- Hotlink from Maxis Communications Berhad today unveiled Caller Ringtones, the industrys first 'ringback service that is set to capture a bigger slice of the thriving ringtone business.

Caller Ringtones replaces the standard connecting tone callers conventionally hear on the phone with music and sound effects while they wait for their call to the Hotlink customer to be connected. With this service, callers can now be entertained as how call recipients have been kept amused via ringtones before the call gets picked up. The service, not unlike ringtones, is built on consumers increasing appetite for mobile personalisation and communication.

This innovation leverages on the market popularity of ringtones which has grown alongside leading advances in mobile music formats from monophonic to polyphonic to todays new capability to offer master recording ring tunes via Hotlinks true tunes.

Among the mobile content available from Hotlink and Maxis, ringtones are the most popular with over 60% downloaded by customers as of July 2004. Other popular downloads include enhanced games and wallpapers. As of March 2004, Maxis mobile data revenue is at RM174 million which is 14% of its total mobile revenue, considered by the Company to be a significant area of growth.

Based on customers inclination towards ringtone downloads, we expect Caller Ringtones to equal, if not surpass, the success of polyphonic ringtones and true tunes which averages over 100,000 downloads a month," said Maxis Head of Prepaid Marketing Ms. Chee Loo Fun.    

Chee envisions that Caller Ringtones will receive encouraging response from a market that is largely represented by the youth segment that constantly seeks fun and entertainment on their mobile phones. In its current position as the prepaid industrys leader, Hotlink will be tapping into its customer base of over three million comprising mostly of young and socially active mobile phone users -- a considerable population that is viewed most likely to embrace a service such as Caller Ringtones.

We have already seen tremendous success in Taiwan, South Korea and the Philippines with this service. For instance, 100,000 people in the Philippines signed up for the ringback service with the countrys leading mobile operator during its first week of launch. And in South Korea, the first mobile operator that introduced the service got as many as 8 million of its subscribers hooked to ringback tones. Today, were pleased to bring this innovation for the first time to Malaysians.

We expect Caller Ringtones to be as popular here as in our neighbouring countries. The combination of easy personalisation, wide selection of cool tunes and affordable prices, as what Hotlink is offering, will be the key reasons for its success," said Chee, adding that the service is compatible with all types of phones.

Customers are allowed to assign different songs to different caller groups on Caller Ringtones. Chee said, This means that you can have your parents crooning to oldies, your pals tapping their feet to the latest pop hit and your boss humming to classical music as they wait. You can also set special songs for specific callers on specific days, surprise a loved one with a sexy birthday greeting. Theres even a jukebox feature that plays all the caller ringtones in your playlist randomly."

Maxis Head of Product Development and Management En. Karim Abdul Malik said: Caller Ringtones addresses a trend that is clearly distinguishable in the market for mobile services today that is consumers increasing desire for self-expression and personalisation of their phones through ringtones. For the new generation of mobile phone users, the mobile phone is not just a practicality, but also makes a profound statement to others about its owners," he said.

Deployed through the Maxis network, Caller Ringtones allows customers the freedom to choose from a wide selection of over 400 recordings comprising full fidelity hit singles from international artistes such as Beyonce Knowles, Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Sammi Cheng, Aaron Kwok, Missy Elliott and local artistes in the likes of Misha Omar, Siti Nurhaliza, Ziana Zain and Erra Fazira.

Hotlink is currently collaborating with Sony Music, BMG and Warner Music to offer its customers the music content selection. It expects to extend the repertoire of music caller ringtones with two other music companies before the end of the year.

Caller Ringtones are available to Hotlink and Maxis (012 & 017) customers starting from 22 July. For a monthly subscription of RM3.00, customers can purchase caller ringtones priced at RM2.00 onwards from a complete library of ringtones and manage their playlist online.

To subscriber, customers dial *131# and wait for confirmation via SMS. Caller ringtones can be purchased by calling 1-300-820-820 or through the website. In future, customers will be able to purchase their caller ringtones via WAP and EasyAccess too. For further information on Caller Ringtones, please call Customer Service at 1 300 820 120 or visit www.hotlink.com.my or www.maxis.com.my.

From 22 July to 31 August, subscription fees will be waived. Customers will only be charged for Caller Ringtones downloaded. Monthly fee applies starting from 1 September 2004.

So, say goodbye to that boring 'toot toot connecting tone and activate Caller Ringtones today.

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