Muzicall, European provider of Ringback Tone (RBT) services, has announced a new strategic partnership with IMImobile, a global technology partner for operators, media providers and enterprises. Muzicall and IMImobile say they will join forces to foster new Ringback Tone business opportunities and accelerate the growth of RBT consumer services throughout Europe.
The partnership is said to draw upon the two companies’ expertise to provide a fully managed service to mobile operators through a mix of technology and marketing. It is said that the aim will be to maximise consumer adoption as well as facilitate improved discovery through new channels such as enabling off-deck sales of Ringback Tones.
IMImobile will draw from its experience in delivering RBT technology in Asia-Pacific and Africa where Ringback Tones are highly popular. Muzicall will use its best practice framework developed through its Centre of Excellence for Ringback Tone marketing which has a proven track record of significantly increasing RBT consumer adoption rates for leading mobile operators in Europe.
“In many ways Muzicall and IMImobile offer complementary RBT services so it makes sense for the two companies to work together to grow the European Ringback Tone market,” said Patrick Allainguillaume, CEO of Muzicall. “IMImobile has excellent experience in developing successful Ringback Tone technology. There is a huge opportunity in Europe, with only two percent of mobile phone users owning Ringback Tones whereas in regions such as India that number is above 25 per cent.”
“We look forward to partnering with Muzicall to repeat the success in Europe that RBT services have had across the rest of the world. With the right focus, IMImobile believes RBT services can be a valuable revenue generator for European operators as a standalone service or as part of a complete music lifestyle solution encompassing full-track music, social networking and personalisation content,” said Vishwanth Alluri. CEO and Chairman of IMImobile. “IMImobile’s flexible technology and experience, gained from over 21 RBT deployments, alongside Muzicall’s fully managed RBT service expertise and marketing knowledge, will prove a compelling proposition for operators keen to explore new revenue sources.”
In the past 12 months Muzicall says it has grown the number of Ringback Tone subscribers across its managed services by more than 300 per cent. This success is said to be in part due to the expertise Muzicall has gained from managing Ringback Tone services with numerous operators across Europe.