Rogers Wireless introduces click-to-content service simplifying wireless data access

Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. is hoping to make it easier for a broader group of its subscribers to access wireless data services with the introduction of new pound-pound (#-#) technology developed by U.S.-based Infospace Inc. The technology, already in use in some European countries, also allows older handset users to access interactive content and services, allowing Rogers to market the services to its entire digital PCS subscriber base. Instead of scrolling through text-based menus in the WAP (wireless application protocol) environment, users can now double click the "number" key followed by another number to get access to weather forecasts, sports scores, or movie listings, for example. Once the process is executed, it triggers an SMS response with the desired information. Information such as weather forecasts, sports scores, movie listings, traffic information, and ring tones are available on a pay-per-use basis. Fees will depend on the content. David Neale, VP of new product development of Rogers Wireless, explains that not only is the opportunity to provide easier access to information compelling, the technology enables Rogers to target a significant portion of its subscribers previously unserved due to handset technology constraints. "We have lots of phones that we’ve shipped since 1995 that are digital phones. They’re capable of receiving text messages, but they’re not necessarily capable of sending text messages," Neale explains. "The whole notion of pound-pound is that it uses a unique network feature that actually allows us to send the request, so ‘pound-pound 1’ will trigger a return message. And you can send it from any phone, whether it’s capable of two-way SMS or not." This new process for accessing wireless data will also be appealing to older, less technology-savvy users because they won’t have to learn something new or "go fishing for menus," Neale states. "There are a lot of people not even familiar with the concept of SMS, never mind using SMS on the phone. So the cool thing with pound-pound is you don’t have to disappear into any phone menus. You just send it directly from your normal phone as if you were dialing a normal phone number." No concerns over people willing to pay for services Rogers Wireless is also confident that subscribers will be willing to pay on a pay-per-use basis for traffic information, horoscopes, and weather forecasts. "We’ve already had very strong evidence there is a value associated to useful content on a demand basis," Neale tells Report on Wireless. "Some people would be quite happy to pay 10 cents for a horoscope to be delivered (on the spot) because it’s on demand. Also, real time traffic information might be particularly valuable." Using SMS to provide access to wireless data is a change in direction for Rogers Wireless, which was previously offering pushed-based services. "This is a huge difference from the model that we were using two years ago, the whole notion of subscription," Neale explains. "To be quite honest, there isn’t a great deal of information that you really want to see everyday." Neale says much of the evidence to support the pay-per-use strategy comes from two sources. The significant increases in SMS traffic the company has experienced since the four national wireless operators began allowing inter-carrier text messaging on April 2 and its previous experience using WAP services over its network (RoW, Nov. 13/01). While specific figures of SMS traffic increase weren’t available at press time, Neale states that in the first few weeks following April 2, traffic was increasing 30 per cent week over week. "We’ve gone to the stage from SMS being something that we saw heavy usage by a small number of people to nowadays, we see literally millions every week, and that’s going up," he says.

Rogers Wireless introduces click-to-content service simplifying wireless data access

News | 06/11/2002 4:00 am EDT

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