Irish m-commerce firm Network365 has signed a deal with one of Brunei’s main mobile operators DSTCom to provide mobile phone users throughout the country with advanced information services, picture messaging, ringtone downloads and mobile games.
The deal marks a further inroad into the Asian mobile market for Network365 following landmark deals with NTT DoCoMo in Japan, Hutchison 3G in Thailand, Hong Kong and Austraila, CSL in Hong Kong and Taito Corporation and Celltel Lanka in Sri Lanka.
The interactive mobile services in Brunei will be deployed through the company’s mzone advancd payments and service delivery platform, which enables wireless operators, banks and enterprises to build and co-ordinate online communities with messaging and applications over SMS, MMS, email, WAP, i-mode, J Sky and EZ Web.
Amir P. D. Hj Hussin, head of value added services at DSTCom commented: “The deployment of mzone will enable us to exploit fully the revenue potential of SMS and MMS by being able to provide a stream of new applications from Network365 and third parties to our subscribers. The deployment of the Network365 mzone platform is strategically important for us and will ensure that we remain the leading innovator in our market.”
The product set enables mobile services such as commerce, promotions, updates for mobile workers, personal finance management, distribution lists and chat servers, gaming and music, media distribution, ticketing, health and sports applications, information services and polling.
“This is an exciting time for Network365 as we expand our global footprint by entering new markets and securing new customers. The Brunei market is an important one for us with a mobile penetration of over 40pc,” said Raomal Perera, CEO of Network365.
“DSTCom was looking for a proven technology and found exactly what they wanted in mzone, the ideal applications platform to enable operators to maximise the potential of mCommerce. We are confident that this is the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship between our two companies,” Perera said.
Since establishing in 1999, Network365 has seen its mzone technology deployed in more than 16 countries and has offices in Europe, Asia, Japan and the Americas. Last year the company won the award for Best Wireless Application Developer at the GSM Association Awards and in 2001 and 2002 was listed as one of Europe’s 50 Hottest Tech Firms in Time Magazine.
In June, Network365 closed a €10m third round venture capital deal.
By John Kennedy
