"Mobile Telephony as a social networking feature"fonYou’s innovative Cloud Telephony Services now available as an app on Facebook.
First launch worldwide by Spain’s Telefonica Moviles.
Barcelona, Jun 15, 2011 - fonYou, the global pioneer in carrier-grade Cloud Telephony Services, today announced another industry first: the launch of a new product called “Facebook Number” that lets mobile operators offer over-the-top-like services integrated with their customers’ Facebook profiles.
The announcement of fonYou’s new product coincides with its first launch by a major telco: Spain’s Telefonica Moviles, one of the five largest telecom operators worldwide, this morning introduced a Facebook version of “Second Line” (watch video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU36cQl-rXo), an innovative virtual mobile number service based on fonYou’s OMT-9000 technology platform.
Facebook Number, specifically designed for social networking activities, offers customers a second mobile phone number on their existing phone and SIM card and gives them access to a new range of advanced, cloud-based services such as visual voicemail, real-time call register and advanced filtering and blocking functions for incoming calls.
The main purpose of the service is to provide end customers with a mobile number that they can use for interacting with other people on Facebook. Since it’s an additional number and the service provides simple-to-configure blocking and filtering functions, customers can share it with their Facebook contacts without having to worry about the privacy implications. In addition, the integration of fonYou’s app with native Facebook functions allow the number to be published on the Facebook Wall or to invite friends to sign up for the service. These functionalities are useful for customers and at the same time serve as viral marketing tools for the mobile operator that offers the service.
All these features can be further enhanced with additional promotions: Telefonica Moviles, for example, gives its customers up to 300 free SMS for using the app and inviting friends to sign up for it.
Offering Cloud Telephony Services through Facebook and integrating them into the users’ profiles constitutes a major advance for telcos in their battle against new, aggressive over-the-top competitors. “You have to be where your customers are”, says fonYou’s CEO Fernando Núñez-Mendoza, “and, apart from a few specific countries, Facebook is where people spend a significant amount of their time.”
The announcement of the launch of “Facebook Number” comes only a week after fonYou was proclaimed winner of the 2011 Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards for the best Cloud Telephony Service of the year (www.globaltelecomsbusiness.com/Stub/InnovationAwards2011.html). The prize was awarded for the service “MyTools” that was launched by South African mobile operator Cell C in January of this year using fonYou’s OMT-9000 technology platform.
Direct link to Telefonica’s Second Line application in Facebook (in Spanish):
http://apps.facebook.com/segundalinea/
About fonYou Telecom
fonYou, a global technology company based in Barcelona, provides carrier-grade Cloud Telephony Services for mobile operators.
fonYou has developed a proprietary technology platform, the OMT-9000, which is connected to the mobile operators’ existing core networks and enables them to offer Cloud Telephony Services to their end customers. These services put the end customers in total control of their mobile phone service as they allow them to configure advanced control settings for blocking, filtering or redirecting traffic; set up different voicemail greetings per contact or contact group; and access a complete history of their call records, SMS and voicemails from anywhere and in real-time.
fonYou’s Cloud Telephony Services are highly attractive both to the customers for the utility they provide as well as to the operators for increasing revenues, market share and as a customer retention tool. fonYou offers these Cloud Telephony Services through four different products that allow mobile operators to address specific market segments: Mobile PLUS, mobileSME, XTRA Line and Facebook Number.
fonYou also runs its own mobile operator in Spain which enables the company to continuously improve its services and products and to gain valuable market insights through its own live customers.
Contact
Nerea Rubio, Head of Communications, fonYou
Mobile: +34 668 80 61 85
Email: nerea.rubio@fonyou.com
Web: http://www.fonyou.com
