Bango Regulatory News (BGO)

13 Dec 2007 07:02

Bango PLC13 December 2007 BANGO PLC ("Bango" or "the Company") Review of 2007 2007 was the year of strong commercial gains from opening up the mobile web Vodafone UK moves to the top spot in off-portal sales through Bango December 13, 2007 - Looking back over 2007, Bango (AIM: BGO) reports strongcommercial gains for UK operators that moved to open up the mobile web, withVodafone UK rising to first place in the value of off-portal content salesthrough Bango. Measured across its total base of content providers, Bango sawtraffic grow fastest on networks where steps were taken to encourage morebrowsing off-portal and payout rates increased to content providers. Key drivers initiated by the mobile operators in promoting the access and saleof content on the mobile web include putting a search box onto the operatorportal for off-portal content searching; introducing flat rate data charges toencourage more mobile web browsing; and providing higher price points and highpayout rates which encourage content providers to run promotions on thesenetworks as they receive a better return on their marketing investment. Vodafone has benefited from being among the first to offer a clean, consumerfriendly WAP billing interface. It also supports the move from a portal model toa more open search based model by placing a search box prominently on theVodafone Live! home page. The payout rates are among the highest of all the UKoperators. "By moving decisively to support off-portal content sales Vodafone has moved upthe league table to claim pole position in the value of off-portal sales throughBango," commented Ray Anderson, CEO of Bango. "We foresee the UK operatorsbattling to offer even better payout rates approaching that of credit cards." Compared to Premium SMS where content providers marketed through the web or inprint, today's content providers are choosing to market more efficiently tousers who are already actively browsing the mobile web. Content providers arebuying mobile advertising and utilising search marketing to drive traffic onspecific networks and can choose users with certain handsets. The mobile web gives content providers other important benefits. For example,offers can be targeted to users with Bango identifying between new or repeatcustomers; marketing campaigns can be more accurately tracked and analysed withmore sophisticated tools to calculate the return on investment and there is morerepeat business within the browse and buy Internet session. "More businesses are now launching a mobile web presence so they can engagedirectly with their consumers anytime and from anywhere," added Anderson. "Through a common integration point, Bango makes it easy for them to drivetraffic to a mobile website, understand who the visitors are, track marketingcampaigns and collect payment for digital content world-wide." For further information: Bango plc ICIS Limited Panmure Gordon & CoTel. +44 1223 472777 Tel. +44 20 7651 8688 Tel. +44 20 7459 3600Ray Anderson, CEO Tom Moriarty Aubrey PowellPeter Saxton, CFO Caroline Evans-Jones Stuart Gledhill About Bango Bango delivers the technology that makes the mobile web simple for everyone.Bango created the world's first global exchange for the mobile web. Byproviding a common integration point for brands, businesses and individuals,Bango removes the complexities that make the mobile web difficult to exploit. Through Bango's global exchange, content providers see all users as a unifiedglobal community. Users easily discover and access the widest range of contentand the world's leading mobile operator's partner with Bango to give theirsubscribers the widest choice. Billing providers, search engines andadvertisers are automatically connected to content providers in Bango's globalexchange. Bango has offices in USA, UK, Spain and Germany and is quoted on the LondonStock Exchange (AIM:BGO). Learn more at www.bango.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange