"The expanded feature will be available by summer.  The new service will use Celltick's trademark LiveScreen Media technology to stream interactive teasers across idle mobile screens, directing subscribers to C&W's mobile content portal," said C&W on Thursday.

The messages are 'silent and non-intrusive', the company said, appearing only when the phone is not in use.

Enhanced product

From a business perspective, the enhanced product offers a new non-voice revenue stream.  C&W says it will charge customers not on the basis of the streams, but per click on teaser content.

"The service is proven to strengthen relationships between customers and content, delivering greater non-voice revenues," said Celltick's CEO Stephen Dunford, quoted in a joint press release.  "Add the independent revenue stream from brands and advertisers to the mix and this is an extremely compelling proposition to mobile operators."

LiveScreen Media already has a 40 million subscriber market across 20 mobile operators worldwide in countries such as Russia, Thailand and India, said Cable & Wireless.  The partnership will allow the telecoms provider to step up its content offerings to its markets in 13 Caribbean islands.

Content will include sports results, news, weather updates, celebrity gossip and quizzes, which will be streamed to subscribers according to preference.

"For the last two years, our bmobile customers have nearly doubled their use of mobile content year on year.  We know its something they want," said Paul Hamburger, C&W chief commercial officer for the Americas and Caribbean, quoted in a company release.

"We have a history of reaching out to our customers with targeted information and offers via SMS, and it has proven to be very effective.  This will be an exciting, easy, new way for our customers to engage with bmobile buzz content, whether it's a new ring tone from an artiste they like, or a hurricane weather alert," he added.

Track individual usage

Celltick's 'click-through' software mechanism allows C&W to track individual usage and therefore, customer preference, giving it the scope to improve personalisation of the service to customers over time, "giving them more of what they want, and less of what they don't," the company said.

"Teaser messages appear silently and non-intrusively on to the mobile phone's idle screen when - and only when - it is not in use," said C&W.

"Customers will see content updates via the ticker for free, and they'll only be charged if they decide to click for more information when something is of interest."

To access the new service, bmobile clients will have to acquire a 'buzz live!'  SIM card, which C&W says it will start distributing free as of May.

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