Etisalat signs up with Mahindra Comviva

Etisalat Group has signed up with Mahindra Comviva to provide Etisalat's 139 million subscribers across Middle East, Africa and Asia with consumer email, instant messaging, social networking, phone book backup services as well as popular news/web feeds and other relevant applications over their mobile phone.

The Group-level partnership agreement was signed in Barcelona by Etisalat group's chief commercial officer, Rainer Rathgeber and Ambar Sur, global market unit head for Mahindra Comviva. The contract for Etisalat Nigeria was signed by Steven Evans, CEO for Etisalat Nigeria and Kaustubh Kashyap, Mahindra Comviva's global key account manager for Etisalat. Also present were Essa Al Haddad, who is both the Etisalat group's CEO for Africa and vice chairman of EMTS and Manoranjan Mohapatra, Mahindra Comviva's CEO.

The subscriber can access this service either through downloading an application or via USSD, SMS or MMS messages which eliminates the users' dependence on smartphones. This effectively provides access to contemporary web services to every mobile handset.

The platform will be deployed in a single location within the UAE, while the services will be made available to all the 15 affiliates of Etisalat. The first Etisalat market to deploy the new messaging solution is Etisalat Nigeria, whose 15 million subscribers will soon be able to enjoy the benefit of advanced communications on any handset.

Steven Evans, CEO Etisalat Nigeria said "Nigeria has a vast population of young people, a majority of which are basic-phone holders with no or minimum data capabilities. As we continue to attract new customers to our network across various segments, it is our desire that we are able to address their needs to enjoy emailing, instant messaging, and social networking amongst other services no matter the type of handset they are using."

 

Commenting on the partnership, Essa Al Haddad, chief executive officer, Africa at the Etisalat Group and vice chairman at EMTS said, "Comviva has always been a trusted partner for Etisalat and with this new engagement, we will bring such and other more richer and interactive web services for our subscribers without any such limitations."

Manoranjan Mohapatra, CEO, Mahindra Comviva said "We are excited to extend our partnership with Etisalat Group by offering these exciting web services for all its subscribers across 15 affiliates. These cloud-based offerings will significantly accelerate time to market for Etisalat, stably. This partnership also reflects our commitment to create and deploy innovative and revenue-enhancing solutions that will delight subscribers and thus help Etisalat build a sustainable competitive advantage in their markets."