Mobile phone service providers are betting on the World Cup -- which kicks off today in South Korea -- to boost profits.
They plan do so by offering services that enable users to download soccer team logos, soccer player portraits and to receive the latest match results via their cellphones.
Four out of the nation's six mobile operators, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (
Mobile data services are the "next big thing" when it comes to boosting sagging telecom revenues, insiders said.
Mobile data services give access to non-voice content, such as short message services (SMS), information searches, location services and data downloads.
"World Cup fever is a golden opportunity," said Melissa Chen (陳柔君), an executive at Far EasTone.
Increasing the percentage of sales derived from data services is the company's main business focus this year, she stressed.
Far EasTone said its data-service sales accounted for 3.4 percent of its total revenue in the first quarter of this year, up from 2.6 percent during the same period last year.
Compared to many Western countries -- where data services accounted for an average of 9.4 percent of sales -- Far EasTone has a lot of room for growth in this area, Joseph O'Konek, president of the company said earlier this month.
"When there is a holiday or special event, it's a good chance to to stimulate data-service usage," Chen said. On the day before Chinese New Year this year, Far EasTone's short message traffic tripled, she said.
Another unique messaging service new to Taiwan is also looking to link together entertainment services and cellphones.
Mobile entertainment network provider Bzbeat Interactive Media Taiwan Ltd (跳跳王互動媒體) offers "recordable, interactive music messages to over 7 million cellphone users by simply dialing 945," Corbett Wall, president of the firm said yesterday.
The service allows users to select a song, sing into their cellphone over the music track and transmit the recording to another cellphone number as an audio message. Wall, a former jazz icon in Taiwan, joined forces with Sony-Ericsson, FarEasTone, KG Telecom and TransAsia to initiate the new service.
Bzbeat is targeting people aged between 15 and 25. So far the company, which began operating last month, has attracted more than 200,000 users.
The provision of mobile-data services is a necessary move for providers.
"With the nation's mobile phone penetration rate fairly high, it's difficult for carriers to add many more new users," said Ann Liang (
Service providers have to rely on new revenue drivers, such as mobile data services.
These service will become more critical in stimulating mobile operators' sales growth over the next five years, Liang said.
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