MCTEL, a messaging and device management specialist, and one2many, a cell broadcast company, announced they have formed a partnership to provide the latest generation of Cell Broadcast solutions, able to broadcast messages to all devices irrespective of whether they are set to display CB messages.
Cell broadcast (CB) technology is said to offer a non-intrusive, real-time service of distributing text messages and binary content to mobile handsets, specific to their current location. CB is capable of broadcasting one single message to reach all mobile handsets in an area as small as one radio cell and as big as an entire country. Sending a message to millions of handsets takes a matter of seconds, it is claimed.
Traditionally Cell Broadcast messages are received by handsets which have CB activated and configured correctly. As configuration settings need to be performed on the handset rather than the SIM, manual intervention is required. For mobile users, manual configuration may not be intuitive acting as a barrier to activation. MCTEL’s device and SIM management specialisation provides an altogether more rewarding user experience and increases the penetration of the service overcoming this barrier.
Based on an in-depth knowledge of mobile handset behaviour, the MCTEL solution identifies handsets with the CB capability not activated as well as handsets that do not support CB messages. In the first case, MCTEL SIM OTA remotely manages the SIM card to activate the appropriate parameter, even on 3G mobile handsets that represent a growing part of today’s mobile fleet. In the second case, the CB message is replaced by a SMS that is sent to the handsets that do not support CB messages. As a result, one2many Cell Broadcast Centre combined with MCTEL SIM management solution is said to significantly increase the coverage rate of cell broadcast campaigns.
“By adding our device & SIM management to one2many’s cell broadcast technology, we entered a new phase of development for CB.” explains Dr Daniel Mavrakis, MCTEL CEO. “The solution enables operator settings control and ease of configuration. In addition we are now able to deliver CB campaigns to all the handsets attached to one or more cells on the network and even to those that do not support CB! This major improvement underlies further developments of cell broadcast services and the monetization of these services.”
With immediate and widespread message broadcasting, CB technology is said to be especially sought after for time-sensitive location-based services. Governments increasingly use CB for emergency alerts, whether they are related to natural hazards or security threats. In such cases, it is a vital necessity to instantly reach all mobile users located in a given area. For mobile operators, CB is claimed to represent a unique opportunity to locally optimize the capacity utilization rate and to launch new revenue-generating services.
Enabling Cell Broadcast is key to the success of solutions such as Public Warning and Dynamic Billing. Collectively, One2Many and MCTEL are addressing the needs of solution providers and customers in this area and building on this expertise to provide more interactive services by cross-pollinating different message domains like Cell Broadcast and SMS, or USSD.
Maarten Mes, Managing Director of one2many commented: “We are excited that MCTEL has joined one2many’s Technology Partnership program. This program fosters and supports bilateral research projects which have the potential for commercialization of CB services. MCTEL has addressed and found a solution for cell broadcast device & SIM management, supporting operators to maximise revenue from cell Broadcast commercial services”
The commercialization of MCTEL’s Cell Broadcast Versatile Delivery will be jointly done by both companies. Several mobile operators are already said to be interested in testing the solution on their network and perceive high revenue potential in this technology.