BSD.L Regulatory News (BSD)

30 Nov 2005 10:20

Emblaze Ltd30 November 2005 Emblaze Mobile Signs Exclusive Distribution Agreement with BlueTech in Africa Ra'anana, Israel, 30 November, 2005: Emblaze Mobile Ltd., the handset design andmanufacturing house and member of the Emblaze Group (LSE: BLZ), will todayannounce at GSM Africa an exclusive distribution agreement with Blue TechAfrica, a mobile device and connectivity technology distribution company, whichwill see its handsets introduced to key African markets during 2006. BlueTech will provide a total solution covering; warehousing and logistics,inventory management coupled with next day delivery, handset customisation, andmanagement of online sales and fulfillment throughout Africa. According to Yankee Group, by end of 2005 Africa's total Mobile installed basewill reach over 85 Million subscribers and is expected to grow to over 100Million in 2006. The total handset sales this year are 21 million and expectedto grow to just under 26 million devices by end of 2006 (99% of them are GSM/GPRS devices). The new portfolio has been developed for a need but designed for a lifestyle andamongst those to be supplied by BlueTech will be the Desire 20, Sting10 andSting 6 phones from Emblaze Mobile's product range. (http://www.emblazemobile.com/products.asp). Simon Pollack, Vice President Sales, Emblaze Mobile said: "Africa is a rapidlygrowing market and has become the first continent to have more mobile phoneusers than fixed-line subscribers and as these users have become increasinglysophisticated and the market expanded, mobile users are looking for mobilephones that suit their changing needs. "Emblaze supports Blue Tech Africa's vision of customer segmentation anddifferentiation and its innovative approach which we believe will deliversuccess. We are delighted to be working with them and confident that they willdrive sales of our stylish and dynamic products, whilst creating new and exciting opportunities." Andre Ellis, Managing Director, Blue Tech Africa, said: "Blue Tech firmlybelieves that the manufacture of generic "for all" devices is a thing of thepast. Catering for specific market segments and creating differentiation will beessential in the development of any manufacturers product range going forward. "Emblaze understands this developing requirement, the benefit to consumer andthe significant commercial opportunity. As such we are extremely excited aboutworking with Emblaze to develop the African market with propositions that willmost certainly challenge conformity" According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Africa has becomethe world's fastest-growing mobile phone market. Over the past five years thecontinent's mobile phone use has increased at an annual rate of 65 percent,which is twice the global average. ENDS Enquiries: EmblazeDoron Cohen / Hagit Gal + 972 9 7699831 / 339 Corfin CommunicationsHarry Chathli, Neil Thapar + 44 207 929 8989 BlueTechNadia Gouws + 27 82 378 1515 About The Emblaze Group (Emblaze LTD) Emblaze Ltd is a group of companies sharing a common mission to provide telecomoperators with technologies, products and solutions for next generationservices: Emblaze Mobile, a new breed in handsets design and manufacturing;Adamind (LSE: ADA), a global leader in content adaptation (transcoding) forwireless operators; Visual Defence (LSE: VDI), a provider of wireless and IPvideo solutions for military and homeland security markets; Emblaze VCON, is aleading provider of wireless video communications technologies and conferencingsolutions for operators and enterprise markets over IP networks and OrcaInteractive (LSE: ORCA), provider of Interactive Television IPTV middleware forVideo On Demand (VOD) and broadcast services, aimed at Telecom, cable and xDSLoperators. Emblaze Group is traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE: BLZ) since 1996 andhas offices in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, China, Korea andIsrael. www.Emblaze.com About Emblaze Mobile Emblaze Mobile was founded in 2001. It is headquartered in London with operatingfacilities in Israel as well as design and production capabilities in Korea. Itis part of Emblaze group of companies which share a common mission to provideTelecom operators with technologies, products and solutions for next generationservices. Emblaze Mobile produces media-rich handsets with sophisticated voiceand data solutions that are individual, cool and stylish. Emblaze Mobile knowsthat its customers are sophisticated individuals who have busy lifestyles, andneed multimedia devices which are precisely tailored, simple, stylish andversatile to meet their different and constantly changing needs. Theseinnovative devices offer operators the ability to provide additional value-addedservices and a richer, even more intuitive, multimedia experience.www.EmblazeMobile.com About BlueTech Blue Tech Africa (Pty) Ltd is a mobile device and connectivity technologydistribution company head-quartered in Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa.Established in 2005 to respond to the burgeoning digital opportunity within theAfrican market, The Company's mission is to be a leader in marketing, sales,distribution and after-sales support of high value-added electronic and digitalproducts that fulfill and exceed consumer's needs and expectations. Whilst it isunderstood that the market we entered has multiple well established players, ourraison d'etre is to challenge the status with innovative technologies whilstcontinuing to eliminate barriers to technology adoption by the consumer. The company is a subsidiary of the Managed Enterprises Incorporated group -based in Essex, United Kingdom. The financial strength and organisationalexperience of the group provide Blue Tech Africa with a strong base to growfrom. During the next two years the business is planning to establish threeadditional companies across the continent to act as geographical centres forservice delivery to the relevant region. These companies will be based in Kenya(East Africa), Egypt and Nigeria (West Africa). This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange