2010 World Telemedia Panel - Review

St. Julian, Malta -- Advanced Telecom Services’ Bob Bentz was a presenter on the International Services and Billing panel of World Telemedia 2010 last week at the San George & Marina Resort in Malta.

Tom Horsey of Froggie, a service bureau in Spain, spoke about mobile marketing (we couldn’t help but notice that a guy named “Horsey” worked for a company named “Froggie; what are the chances?). Paul Coxhill of UKash gave details about alternative billing mechanisms for the cell phone. Rob Nijeboer, who like Horsey is from the UK, but now living in Spain and working for EG Telecom, talked about micropayments. Industry veteran Gary Corbett of Oxygen8 Communications gave valuable insight concerning the role of the service bureau in helping to establish alternate billing opportunities.

Aly Govani, formerly of MX Telecom and now with Open Market, gave his perspective of the USA and Canadian market concerning SMS and premium SMS solutions. Bentz, on the other hand, spent much of his time speaking about the premium rate 900 number market in North America and its recent improvements.

Bentz gave his overview of the primary differences between the North American and European markets.

• North America is more of a credit card based society than Europe.
• The USA especially is a more internet based society than Europe with Europe being more a mobile phone based society.
• There is no 900 number access from cell phones in North America.
• North America is closing the gap with SMS growth when compared to Europe.
• The European market is far more creative when it comes to premium rate and premium SMS solutions.
• Chargebacks remain a problem in the USA and Canada and the market may be similar to that of Germany, but the chargeback situation is improving, especially in Canada.

In the United States, Bentz said, there have been no structural or legal changes to the 900 number laws in recent years, but there is increasing interest in the American market thanks to the following factors.

• Media is cheaper and media is looking for sources of NTR (non-traditional revenue)
• Chargebacks have leveled off.
• There is less competition in the market.

In Canada, however, Bentz reiterated his position that Canada offers information providers the “best premium rate market in the world.” There has been significant growth in the Canadian market since de-regulation, as numerous Call TV and esoteric television shows have entered the market. Some of the highlights of Bentz’s discussion of the Canadian market included:

• Deregulation prompted entrepreneurial companies to enter the market.
• Chargebacks have decreased significantly since deregulation.
• Content restrictions have been lifted.
• Carrier discounts for service bureaus have increased, thereby offering additional margin to end providers.
• Pound codes have opened up a new and promising cell phone billing mechanism.
• Canada remains largely a landline based society with only 6% of households being cell phone only.
• TV consumption in Canada is the third largest in the world. “Thanks to those cold winters,” Bentz added.

After a review of the state of the international market, panel organizer Paul Skeldon opened up the discussion to the attendees. One question, “what new countries are opening up to premium rate services?” seemed to stump the panel as nobody offered a response.

No doubt, the panelists are likely active in pursuing new market opportunities, but there are simply some things that the experts are not willing to share.

Contact an ATS representative today by email.