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Nigeria’s premier mobile technology company MTech, and Sports marketing Outfit, Optima Sports Management International (OSMi), have jointly acquired the Mobile Telephony license for Sub-Saharan Africa in the upcoming FIFA World Cup, Germany 2006.
The license acquired by MTech/OSMi will be executed in partnership with various major network operators and mobile technology providers (as sub-licensees) in the Sub-Saharan countries. The rights will cover the 41 countries in the region, except South Africa, and these countries include; Ghana, Cote d’ Ivoire, Senegal, Kenya, Togo, Zimbabwe etc. The mobile telephony rights permits license holders to use the Official marks & symbols of the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which include; the official emblem, the official mascot and the FIFA World Cup Trophy for editorial and promotional purposes. The license also allows for transmission of near-live and delayed video clips of match footage such as goals, and other exciting scenes to mobile phones, directly from FIFA through MTech/OSMi, employing various technologies such as SMS (text), WAP, GPRS/MMS (images, sound and video) and IVR (voice) for content delivery.
Infront Sports & Media – the marketing arm of FIFA, is responsible for the worldwide sales and distribution of the broadcast rights to the 2006 FIFA World Cup through various media that includes internet and mobile media. The license acquired by MTech/OSMi will be executed in partnership with various sub-licensees in various territories. By this offer, African consumers have unprecedented variety and choice in viewing options, delivered through various medium.
OSMi is unarguably, one of Africa’s leading sports marketing and management companies. Its specialties include Sports Marketing, Broadcast Rights Acquisition & Marketing. Their project references include International Cup 2001, “Unity CUP”, of which they were event owners, World Cup France 1998, Olympic Games 2004 ,Africa Nations Cup 2004, FIFA Under 17 2003 etc. Mr. Rotimi Pedro, the Managing Director of OSMi, stated, “Our goal for setting higher standards is what informed our choice of MTech as technical partners in this venture, to leverage their expertise in mobile technology to guarantee a strong mobile coverage during the World Cup and reach millions of Africans”. He added, “being awarded the mobile telephony right by FIFA is remarkable and together with MTech’s competences we are confident of a smooth content transmission to all 41 Sub-Saharan countries.”
MTech, Nigeria’s indigenous mobile technology provider, which started operations since the inception of the GSM industry in Nigeria in 2001, presently develops and deploys services for all GSM operators and various other companies including marketing, sports, financial and media firms. Since the launch of services such as the first WAP service, implementing the first SMS-TV service, running the first mobile based marketing services, and launch of its mobile entertainment brand Vibedownloads, MTech has grown steadily and worked hard at maintaining her place as Nigeria’s foremost mobile technology provider,. According to MTech’s Managing Director, Mr. Chika Nwobi, “FIFA’s creation of the mobile rights license, for the first time, gives credence to the importance and the future of mobile technology, and we are pleased to be part of this venture.” He further added, “we are very confident in our ability to execute this as we have satisfactorily met FIFA’s specific technical standards, based on the provisions of the license.”
MTech has been in partnership with OSMi, providing technical support, developing and deploying mobile interactive services for previous sports competitions including, Tunisia 2004 African Cup of Nations, African Cup of Nations, 2005 UEFA Champions League, etc.
The FIFA World Cup competition is the greatest soccer event in the world and has the biggest television audience of any sports event in the world. This year’s competition will be taking place in Germany from 10th June – 9th July 2006 and will feature 32 teams from across the globe. The teams, representing six continents of the world, includes six past winners, the hosts Germany, who head the 14-strong European contingent, and current cup-holders Brazil who lead the South American challenge.
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