Partnership with Telefonica

4 May 2006 07:00

Bango PLC04 May 2006 Bango partners with Telefonica Moviles Espana Partnership will drive forward off-portal market in Spain May 4, 2006 - Bango, the mobile content enabler, has announced a partnershipwith Telefonica Moviles Espana ("TME"), Spain's leading mobile operator, thatopens up new and compelling content for consumers to browse and buy outside theoperator portal from their mobile phone. Bango enables businesses of all sizes to get their content to market quickly andat low cost and sell their mobile content directly to mobile users on anynetwork via the mobile internet. Content providers can now target the 19.9million TME subscribers who are able to pay for mobile content on their phonebill. Through Bango's direct connection to the Telefonica Moviles "Pagos Movistar"payment service, TME subscribers can now browse mobile content outside theoperator's portal - ranging from ringtones and music tracks to games, pictures,information services and videos - and pay via their TME phone bill. This givesSpanish consumers the same mobile internet payment experience which has provedpopular elsewhere in Europe. Bango has a pre-existing agreement with TME to allow customers fast and easyaccess to content outside the Telefonica Moviles portal. This partnership hasbeen extended to support payments for content hosted outside the portal throughthe direct connection to the Telefonica Moviles "Pagos Movistar" paymentservice. "Telefonica Moviles Espana is the first Spanish operator to partner with Bangoto drive the off-portal mobile content market," said Ray Anderson, CEO at Bango."Up until now, this "no-surprises" mobile internet payment experience has onlybeen available to TME subscribers buying content on the operator portal." "We are committed to giving our customers the widest choice of content andenabling more players to enter the market. This will make the pie bigger for allof us," said Alicia Calvo, Head of Mobile Commerce at Telefonica Moviles Espana."Bango's service makes it easy for content providers to activate mobile servicesand build a business on the mobile internet." Content providers sign up for the Bango Service by registering on-line atwww.bango.com. They decide how to price and promote their mobile services andbecause no integration work is required, within a matter of hours they can bereceiving their first mobile transactions via Pagos Movistar. "By going direct-to-consumer via Bango, content providers receive the highestpayouts in the industry and can control the whole product proposition,"continued Anderson. "This is the fastest growing mobile channel in traffic andrevenue terms and now is exactly the right time for Spanish content providers totake control." Global brands such as News Corporation, Manchester United Football Club, EMIMusic, Discovery Mobile, together with smaller, niche content providers arealready using the Bango Service to create sophisticated browse and buy contentportals marketed directly to their customers. For further information, please contact: Bango plc Tel: 01223 472 777Ray Anderson, CEOPeter Saxton, CFO ICIS Tel: +44 207 651 8688Tom MoriartyCaroline Evans-Jones About Bango Bango (AIM: BGO) has developed and deployed an open, global infrastructureplatform that enables content providers to market, sell and deliver theirproducts and services directly to mobile phone users on all mobile networksusing the mobile Internet. This 'direct-to-consumer' approach operates alongsidethe mobile operator's portal. Leading mobile operators including CingularWireless, Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica and O2 work with Bango to accelerate thegrowth of their 'direct-to-consumer' business. The Bango platform has given mobile phone subscribers around the world greateraccess to third-party content. Leading content brands are now adopting the BangoService to engage with all of their existing and potential mobile customersdirectly - irrespective of mobile operator. For further information, go towww.bango.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange