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Operators must take advantage of SMS - Anam

By Mary Lennighan, Total Telecom
18 June 2007

Messaging solutions firm adds SMS money transfer offer to its portfolio; insists service will give mobile providers a competitive edge.

Mobile operators are not making the most of SMS, according to messaging solutions provider Anam, which Monday unveiled its new SMS money transfer service.

"You can do a lot with SMS," said Jote Bassi, marketing director at Anam, speaking to Total Telecom ahead of the announcement.

"Everyone uses [SMS] and it's still growing... The problem is, of course, revenues are falling," Bassi said. Operators are not making enough of the service, he added. "They don't know how."

Anam and person-to-person payments specialist TR2 Communications have come together to launch SMS Money Transfer, a service that enables mobile users to transfer cash to other users via text message.

Anam claims the key differentiator is that its service is easier to use than other similar offers.

"The difference is it's traditionally quite clunky," said Bassi. SMS Money Transfer enables users to send money to anyone in their address book, without having to manually type in that person's phone number.

Time will tell whether removing one step from the process will encourage users to send money by SMS.

"We're in discussions with operators at the moment," said Bassi, although none have agreed to take the service yet.

And it will be up to any operators that do take the service to broker deals with various banks, financial institutions and/or other types of retail outlet to bring the service to market.

"[It's] an opportunity for them to get into the market of money transfer," said Bassi. "They may want to bundle in the service with other services."

Anam is marketing the product worldwide, in Europe and North America as well as in developing markets, and insists it presents a real opportunity for mobile operators.

"For operators it's another piece of the pie, outside of voice," said Bassi. When it comes to growing data revenues, "noone has really cracked it," he added.

For more information please contact:

Patrick Smith
Sonus PR
anam@sonuspr.com
+44 20 7851 4890