Customers can download and view music videos, movie trailers
In a record-making technology tie-up, MTC-Vodafone Bahrain (MTC-VB) yesterday announced that its customers can now watch live television news, sports and music on their mobile phone handsets in Bahrain.
The service was launched under the patronage of Minister of Information, Nabeel bin Yacoub Al Hamer and Chairman of MTC-Vodafone Bahrain Shaikh Ahmed bin Ali Al Khalifa.
The service billed the First live TV to Mobile service, comes as a result of a tie-up with Bahrain Television and the Bahrain Channels 44, 55 and Sports Channel will be available round the clock to MTC-Vodafone Bahrain customers on a "pay-per-view" basis.
This means that customers will not have to pay any registration fee but will only pay 10 fils for every 10 KB of the service downloaded. Also on tap are entertainment programmes and local news from Bahrain Television, live regional Arabic news from Dubai-based, 24-hour news channel Al Arabiya, or music video clips from the Saudi-owned entertainment channel Rotana. The service also allows customers the downloading and viewing of music videos, movie trailers and other audio and video content on their handsets.
The first such service in the Middle East, it will allow customers to download and view music videos, movie trailers and other audio and video content on their mobile phones, said Eddine Salman, senior adviser to MTC group's Mobile Data Services. The service will be available in Bahrain to MTC-Vodafone's estimated 50,000 customers. It will be expanded to Kuwait, Jordan and Lebanon later, he said.
Customers can enjoy this service on selected handsets such as the Sony Ericsson P800/P900, Nokia 6600, Nokia 7650, Nokia 3650, Siemens SX1 and soon many others such as Nokia 7610 and Pocket PC devices. In order to be able to use this service, customers only need to download the WoW Media Centre onto their handsets, this simple application is available on the MTC-Vodafone Bahrain Web site and at any of the MTC-Vodafone Bahrain experience stores. The WoW Media Centre application is available at no extra charge.
Commenting on the announcement, Mahmoud Hashish, Chief Commercial Officer and Acting Chief Operating Officer at MTC-Vodafone Bahrain said: "Once again the Kingdom underlines its position on the regional technology map as it hosts the launch of the Middle East First Live TV to Mobile services. MTC-Vodafone Bahrain is once again demonstrating its position as a pioneer in the development of innovative mobile services and is showing the way forward on the market again with this service."
Dr Eddine Salman said, "We at MTC group are following a vision of our General Director, Dr Saad Al Barrak, in fulfilling, a first step, or a small building block of giant structure of a future vision for MTC to be an Entertainment and Media company, where we need to provide the tools for instantaneous information, entertainment, excitement to our customers. We want to be the harbinger of good change while we are cognitive of the emerging future of the telecom whereas, Mobile Data Service "revenue is expected to reach 27 per cent of total mobile voice customer revenue by 2007."
Providing MTC-VB with the service platform, David McKenna, the Chief Executive Officer at MIS - Mobile Integrated Solutions - said: "MIS is proud to provide a state-of-the-art live TV and media distribution system to MTC-Vodafone Bahrain. This system is unique, providing live television streaming at 10 frames per second. This high quality at a moderate bandwidth has so far not been seen anywhere else in the world. The advanced GPRS, EDGE and 3G networks of MTC-Vodafone have made Bahrain an excellent country of choice for MIS to introduce our advanced mobile services."
The Head of Marketing and Corporate Services at Bahrain Radio and TV Corporation (BRTC), Maria Khoury said, "We believe in the convergence of telecom and media and mainly in broadcasting, that is why we eagerly signed this agreement with MTC-Vodafone Bahrain and look forward to more partnership opportunities that will fulfill both our business plans. We hope that this new, creative and most advanced technology will bring both the viewer and mobile user closer to their needs as far as accessing news, music and sports activities are concerned."
Ismael Fikree, MTC-Vodafone's Chief Technology Officer added : "MTC-Vodafone Bahrain's announcement marks the first step on the road of true mobile and multimedia convergence. Our aim is to redefine the wireless future to further open up the endless services available to customers via their mobile phone, using MTC-Vodafone's GPRS, EDGE and 3G services,"
"The MTC-Vodafone World of WoW is proving to be very popular and making a difference in what people are now expecting from their phone. We have said before that the mobile phone is no longer a method of communicating as it is increasingly becoming a way of life," he added.
The recently re-launched "World of WoW" is available to all MTC-Vodafone Bahrain users, whether they are subscribers to the pre-paid eeZee service or for post-paid Hewar services.
MTC-Vodafone, which has over 2.5 million customers in Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain and Iraq, is also working on extending the service to non-Arab customers. It is currently pursuing a deal with US-based Cable News Network, Dr Salman added.
MTC-Vodafone Bahrain is a joint venture between Mobile Telecommunications Co. of Kuwait and Bahraini investors.
© Bahrain Tribune 2004
