Telefonica expands mobile social networking across 12 countries

By Rimma Kats - May 3, 2010

Social networking on mobile

Telefonica partnered with Myriad Group to use its mobile social networking services across 12 countries in Latin America.

Myriad services will let users access multiple social networks via mobile browsers, downloadable applications and other mobile technologies. The services will be marketed under Telefonica's Movistar brand.

"Myriad has built on this core technology, creating a portfolio of social messaging services that are marketed by mobile operators under their brands," said Steve Langkamp, chief commercial officer at Myriad, Stockport, Britain.
 
"Users can access these services from their mobile browser or a downloadable app, and we are also working with handset manufacturers to embed this technology in the phone, so it's always there, just like text messaging," he said.

Telefonica is a telecommunications company that centers on the fixed and mobile telephony businesses with broadband as the key tool for the development of both.

Networking partnership
The aim for the partnership is to deliver a richer networking experience for Movistar consumers, over a broad range of devices, including Movistar-branded phones.

Currently, Telefonica serves more than 80 million mobile users in 12 Latin American countries, including Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

"Telefonica shares our view that social networking will become a 'killer app' on mobile, and ultimately become as ubiquitous as text messaging," Mr. Langkamp said. "Consumers will expect to exchange messages and photos with their Facebook and MySpace friends as easily as they do today from phone to phone.

"Telefonica was seeking a white-label service to extend its Movistar portfolio, which is exactly the proposition offered by Myriad," he said. "Like other emerging markets, Latin America is beginning the transition to 3G networks, and operators are targeting new data services revenue to increase ARPU.

"Given their mass appeal, social networking will be a flagship service that drives adoption of the mobile Internet."

Team players
In December, Telefonica launched a global multichannel mobile ad platform powered by Amobee.

The partnership makes Telefónica positioned to serve as a single point for agencies and advertisers wishing to buy ad-enabled inventory to deploy and monitor campaigns across multiple channels and markets simultaneously (see story).

According to Telefonica, the appeal of partnering with Myriad is its focus on mass-market phones rather than just high-end devices, which will let Telefonica reach the widest possible audience.

"The social networking services can then be used to up-sell other Telefonica offerings, such as music – provided by other Telefonica partners." Mr. Langkamp said. "A key dimension in Latin America is that many consumers have limited or no access to the fixed Internet – so mobile will be the Internet, not a replacement for fixed broadband.

"Among those that do have fixed Internet, the penetration of social networking is even higher than in developed markets, often 80 percent or more," he said. "This gives us confidence that social networking will be hugely popular on mobile."


http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/social-networks/6133.html

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