11 April 2004
AMMAN. Fastlink on Thursday announced a partnership with Al Jazeera Mobile to launch a short message service (SMS) news alert function to their GSM subscribers in the Kingdom.
The alliance powered by Al Majaz Telecommunications, which specialises in business software development will provide people-on-the-go with updated news alerts on politics, sports and breaking news, both regional and international, via their mobile phones, said Hamad Al Nuaimi, marketing director of Al Jazeera channel.
“Mobiles will fill in those gaps when people cannot watch TV, or listen to the radio to hear the news,” explained Bashar Arafeh, Fastlink's director of marketing, international roaming and mobile data services.
“It [SMS news alerts] is not a means of replacing these services but a way to provide up-to-the-minute news wherever you are, when news breaks,” he added.
Two to three news alerts per day are slated to be sent to subscribers, available in both Arabic and English, “but there may be days that pass without receiving any news, it just depends on what is going on around the world,” said Al Majaz CEO Mohammad Al Obaidy.
“We also plan to expand the service in other languages, including French, especially for the North African countries,” he added,
The service was first tested in Qatar in October 2003, and introduced in the UAE the same month, in Egypt in January 2004 and most recently in Jordan, with plans for further regional and global expansion, according to the CEO.
“The service is currently available in more than 25 countries, including Brunei and Indonesia. Subscribers signed on through the Internet on aljazeera.net, but in the Middle East all subscriptions will be made through mobile operators, at least in this phase of development,” explained Hashem Al Sada, vice president of Al Majaz.
“This is still a new service... and was launched [in Jordan] at the end of March. It was free-of-charge till April 4 and now we charge a fee,” said Arafeh.
Fastlink subscribers to the service pay a 60 fils fee on a “pay-per-alert” basis without an installation fee required, he went on to explain.
The service is slated to extend to Multi-Media Services (MMS) alerts in addition to the SMS alerts, and Jordan will be the first country in the region to have Al Jazeera MMS option, said Arafeh.
AMMAN. Fastlink on Thursday announced a partnership with Al Jazeera Mobile to launch a short message service (SMS) news alert function to their GSM subscribers in the Kingdom.
The alliance powered by Al Majaz Telecommunications, which specialises in business software development will provide people-on-the-go with updated news alerts on politics, sports and breaking news, both regional and international, via their mobile phones, said Hamad Al Nuaimi, marketing director of Al Jazeera channel.
“Mobiles will fill in those gaps when people cannot watch TV, or listen to the radio to hear the news,” explained Bashar Arafeh, Fastlink's director of marketing, international roaming and mobile data services.
“It [SMS news alerts] is not a means of replacing these services but a way to provide up-to-the-minute news wherever you are, when news breaks,” he added.
Two to three news alerts per day are slated to be sent to subscribers, available in both Arabic and English, “but there may be days that pass without receiving any news, it just depends on what is going on around the world,” said Al Majaz CEO Mohammad Al Obaidy.
“We also plan to expand the service in other languages, including French, especially for the North African countries,” he added,
The service was first tested in Qatar in October 2003, and introduced in the UAE the same month, in Egypt in January 2004 and most recently in Jordan, with plans for further regional and global expansion, according to the CEO.
“The service is currently available in more than 25 countries, including Brunei and Indonesia. Subscribers signed on through the Internet on aljazeera.net, but in the Middle East all subscriptions will be made through mobile operators, at least in this phase of development,” explained Hashem Al Sada, vice president of Al Majaz.
“This is still a new service... and was launched [in Jordan] at the end of March. It was free-of-charge till April 4 and now we charge a fee,” said Arafeh.
Fastlink subscribers to the service pay a 60 fils fee on a “pay-per-alert” basis without an installation fee required, he went on to explain.
The service is slated to extend to Multi-Media Services (MMS) alerts in addition to the SMS alerts, and Jordan will be the first country in the region to have Al Jazeera MMS option, said Arafeh.
By Jumana Bississo
© Jordan Times 2004
