MTECH BAGS PREMIERSHIP RIGHTS FOR AFRICA.

Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, July 18th, 2007/mobile-ent.biz/news

Mtech will bring mobile Premier League highlights to Africa for the first time. The African mobile content provider and OSMi, a sports marketing company, have won the rights to power the service across the continent (excluding South Africa).

The new offering will provide near-live coverage of all the 380 Premiership matches in the forthcoming season, individual match and weekend ‘round-up’ highlight packages as well as SMS competitions and other mobile content.

MTech will go live with the service in Nigeria and across sub-Saharan Africa when the season begins on the August 11th, with operator partnerships to be announced shortly beforehand.

"The popularity of the Barclays Premier League is at fever pitch across the continent. African newspapers devote huge space to match reports, and radio talk shows feature heated debate between rival supporters,” said Chika Nwobi, MD of MTech. “Combine this popularity with the potential that mobile content is showing in Africa and you have a winning proposition.”

MTECH PARTNERS WITH NBL ON STAR QUEST.

Lagos, Nigeria, April 2nd 2007

For the second year running, MTech Communications has been selected  by Nigerian Breweries Plc to power the mobile interactivity for the Star Quest talent show.

Star Quest, an annual talent hunt reality TV show was launched in 2002 by Nigerian breweries Plc with the objective of discovering and promoting young budding Nigerian artistes in various musical idioms. The show seeks to celebrate Nigerian music and also aims to reinforce the friendship, bonding and sociability that is associated with the STAR lager beer brand.

This year, thirty six bands selected from regional competitions would compete at the National Star Quest for a five million naira recording contract, a mini van, one year of guaranteed accommodation and a musical tour of Nigeria during the 2007 STAR Trek.

The winner of the 2007 Star Quest would be selected by the voting public via SMS. MTech Communications has been chosen to handle the Live SMS voting Management for the Grand finale of the Show on the 28th of April 2007.

Some of the other services that MTech is providing for the show include-

• SMS – TV: Viewers of the show can send personalised messages by sending a text to “32053” The messages would be scrolled across the TV screen during the programme.
• SMS Promos: Viewers can answer advertised questions or make predictions about the show by sending a text with the keyword ‘STAR’ followed by the answer to the question or prediction to “32053”

Star Quest would be running on Nigerian TV stations from the 7th of April 2007.For more information about the show, visit www.star-nigeria.com

MTECH PARTNERS WITH LUDUS-ETV LIMITED TO BRING THE “THE MINT” SHOW TO AFRICA.

January 8,2007

MTech Communications has partnered with Ludus-ETV, the creators of the most successful participatory game show in the United Kingdom, The Mint, to bring the show to Africa. 

The Mint is a live, late night, interactive quiz show which gives viewers a chance to win cash prizes, just by correctly answering trivia questions. All calls made to the program using the specific shortcode numbers displayed on the screen are automatically picked by a computer program, which notifies them their calls have been registered. A caller is then selected at random and connected with the live studio. When a caller eventually gets the correct answer during the duration of the show, the prize money will be claimed and a new trivia will be asked creating an opportunity for a new winner. 

In conjunction with UK partners, MTech produces the Game show and transmits live feed from production location in the UK, via satellite, which is picked up and broadcasted by the television stations in Nigeria. MTech is currently working with MBI, Silverbird and AIT as non-exclusive broadcast partners within the Nigerian territory, and is currently in the process of launching the show in Ghana and Kenya.

For full details of the terms and conditions for The Mint Africa please visit the website –www.themintafrica.com

MTECH GOES INTERNATIONAL.

 MTech commenced its expansion initiative in 2006 with the goal of becoming the leading mobile content and media interactivity provider in emerging markets worldwide.

As part of this expansion initiative,  MTech jointly acquired and executed the mobile telephony rights for Sub-Saharan Africa, for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in Q2 2006, providing near – live mobile content for download.

In September 2006, MTech opened offices in Kenya, Uganda, Ivory Coast, and Ghana.
In this New Year, MTech endeavors to continue with its expansion to Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.

MTECH LAUNCHES POLYPHONIC RINGTONES ON ALL MEDIA PARTNERS.

MTech has launched polyphonic Ringtones on all media partners in the first phase of the launch of its multimedia content services. MTech library of Ringtones includes tones from different music genres including hip-hop, R&B, Gospel, Islamic, Afro beat, Juju music, Oldies. An appropriate copyright body legally covers all our tones.
MTech is also set to launch Wallpapers, Animations, Trutones, Wacky tones and Games in its second and third phases of launch.

MTECH SIGNS ON MINAJ BROADCASTING INTERNATIONAL.

MTech signed on Minaj Broadcasting International on the 13th of November 2006 to offer a bouquet of services which includes:

• Live SMS- TV service- for programs on premium air time promotions.
• Vibe services- Ringtones, MMS, and SMS services (like Entertainment newsbits, love tips, celebrity gossip, adult jokes, love tips, daily horoscope, etc).
• Scores- Football alerts, MMS and SMS content.

 

MTECH STARTS OPERATIONS WITH SUN AND VANGUARD NEWSPAPERS.

MTech started operations on the 28th of July 2006 with SUN newspaper. The SUN newspaper would provide mobile content services ranging from Ringtones(polyphonic, etc), News alert, competitions, promotions, etc.

Also, MTech commenced operations on the 25th of November 2006 with Vanguard newspaper. The newspaper would also provide mobile content like Opinion polls, Ringtones, MMS and SMS services, Games, News alert, etc  to increase interactivity between the newspaper and its avid readers.

MTECH DEPLOYS CONTENT SERVICES FOR FIFA 2006 WORLD CUP, FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.

11 April, 2006

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.

MTECH SPONSORS STYL PLUS ALBUM LAUNCH.

13 March, 2006

MTech, the nation’s leader in value-added service, under her entertainment platform, “Vibedownloads” sponsored the album launch of Nigeria’s hottest R&B Group “StylPlus”, which took place in Abuja and Lagos on February 26 and March 4, respectively.

The event, featured performances by other major indigenous artists, most of whom are Vibedownloads artists, such as; 2Shots, Big Lo, Ruggedman, African China, Faze, and for the first time ever, Kon-fused. Others were Marvelous Benji, and Dare “Art” Alade.

MTech sponsored the concert under her entertainment service “Vibedownloads” of which its “Vibedownloads catalogue”, Volume 1 was also formally launched. The Vibedownloads catalogue is a compilation of MTech’ suite of mobile phone content. The first Volume, which has been in circulation since February 11, 2006, comprises of only SMS-based services, which include; jokes, horoscopes, Nigerian proverbs, latest hit movies, upcoming major entertainment events for the week, fashion tips and lots more. The service is available to MTN and Vmobile subscribers at the costs N50 only, and is compatible to every handset.

The Vibedownloads catalogue, Volume 2, will feature MMS-based content, such as Polyphonic ringtones, true tones, logos, wallpapers, jokes, java games, screensavers etc. Some of these content, being pictures and songs by major Nigerian celebrities like, Omotola Jalade – Ekehinde, Basketmouth, P-Square, D’banj, African China, StylPlus, etc. the Vibedownloads catalogue volume 2 will soon be available.

Cool FM, one of the most listened to radio stations, and media partner of Vibedownloads, was the official media sponsor for the launch concert. They ran various promos to give out 20 free tickets, for the concert, to their Lagos and Abuja listeners. Mr. Chris Ubosi, Deputy Managing Director, of Cool FM, stated that, “entertainment is our business, and as a responsible organization like ours, we constantly strive to support and promote our indigenous artists, in ways like this, in order to ultimately boost the Nigerian entertainment industry. We also seize opportunities such as this to reward our faithful listeners, who participate during our radio shows.”

The MD of MTech, Chika Nwobi, had this to say, “Aside from StylPlus being a popular and well appreciated music group in Nigeria whom we love to identify with, the decision to sponsor the launch was also to etch Vibedownloads, as the number 1 mobile entertainment brand, in the minds of Nigerians; for them to think entertainment and think “Vibedownloads”. He went on to say that, “ this is the first of many more events sponsorship and organization which is intended to ultimately boost the growing Nigerian entertainment industry and to fill the mobile entertainment vacuum in the telecoms industry.

Gifts were given out, at the concert, to 10 randomly selected people, including autographed CDs, shoes, shirts and a mobile phone. Prizes were courtesy, Nara Camicie, Kontessa and Telecomm Centre.

StylPlus, formed in 1997, is made up of Shifi, Zeal and Tunde, teamed up with their managers, Anthony Ukpong and Joseph Ukpong in 2003 to form their own record label; StylPlus Music. The group, with the support of Vibedownloads finally released their much anticipated first full album, titled “Expressions” which boasts of 12 solid tracks including “Imagine that” which is currently a chart-topper.

MTECH ADDS ITV, BENIN TO HOST OF MEDIA PARTNERS.

Barely a month after launching the first mobile content catalog in Nigeria, Vibedownloads catalogue, MTech has added Independent Television (ITV) and Radio, Benin to her list of media partners on MTech’s entertainment service, “Vibedownloads”. Residents of Benin, and its environs, now have the opportunity to have a more exiting and interactive radio and television experience.

This feat extends the Vibedownloads media partnerships across 3 regions of Nigeria, making MTech the only mobile technology company with such reach across the regions of Nigeria. Vibedownloads media partnerships are in the FCT with Cool FM Abuja, the South-east with Cosmo FM (which has coverage of 13 states), the West with NTA 2, Music Africa on Silverbird Television and Cool FM, Lagos and currently in the mid-West with ITV, Benin.

There are only three electronic media outfits in the Edo State with Independent Televesion and its sister radio station being  the only private media outfit. The other two; Nigerian Television Authority and Edo State Television, are Federal and State government owned respectively. Vibedownloads was chosen to power this service on ITV because of her record of accomplishment with her other media partners; providing various mobile content and interactive and enabling TV audiences and radio listeners to interact and participate during both live and recorded programs. MTech’s other references in this regard, aside from launching Nigeria’s first mobile entertainment service, include, launching the first IVR based ringtone service in the country, developing Nigeria’s first live Web streaming solution for a radio station, and implementing the first SMS-TV service for real-time Interactive television broadcasts (Tunisia 2004 Nokia African Cup of Nations).

Several SMS-based services will run on both Independent Television & radio and will be accessed with the dedicated shortcode number - 33058. These SMS-based services are incorporated into the already existing programs in order to make them more interactive. Services to be enjoyed include SMS-TV, which allows subscribers to send messages, requests, greetings etc via text messages and watch them being scrolled live on Television, or announced over the radio. Games and competitions would be run, whereby the viewers or listeners could send in their responses to given questions during programs via text messages, and stand the chance to win several gifts. Voting polls, that will involve subscribers sending in their votes, following a specific pattern via text messages to the shortcode, would also be run, as well as Custom ringtones, which will be available viewers and listeners to download on their mobile phones.

Vibedownloads mobile content services will also be available for download on the TV and radio channels, using the same short code, 33058. The Vibedownloads mobile content services (which has been compiled in the recently launched Vibedownloads catalogue for easy reference) includes content such as; jokes, entertainment news, information on upcoming events, horoscopes, Nigerian proverbs, adult content, latest hit movies, upcoming major entertainment events for the week, fashion tips and lots more. To enjoy these services subscribers will need to text the advertised keyword for the particular content they want to the shortcode 33058 and it will be delivered to their phones instantly.

MTECH LAUNCHES NIGERIA’S FIRST MOBILE CONTENT CATALOG “VIBEDOWNLOADS”, WITH STYLPLUS’ ALBUM.

18 February, 2006

This is good news for mobile phone subscribers as MTech launches another first, her mobile content catalog - “Vibedownloads” catalog, which will give subscribers the opportunity of enjoying lots of exciting value added services on their phones. MTech is also sponsoring the launch of StylPlus’ debut album, “Expressions”, together with the catalog.

The catalog features an even wider range of SMS-based content such as; jokes, daily horoscopes, “naija proverbs”, weekend blockbusters (latest hit movies), 24hours (upcoming major entertainment events for the week), fashion tips, celebrity gossip, and lots more. The catalog contains instructions and keywords to direct subscribers on how to download content. All content are compatible with all types and models of handsets since they are SMS-based, and are available to MTN and Vmobile mobile subscribers, at a cost of N50 only.

Styl-plus is Nigeria’s foremost, award-winning Pop and R&B music group, based in Abuja, under the management of Anthony 'T-Jazz' Ukpong and Joseph 'Joey' Ukpong. Made up of Shiffi, Zeal, and Tunde, Styplus is presently set to launch their full album “Expressions”, in Lagos and Abuja, following the huge success of their two singles recorded in October 2003, “Olufunmi” and “Runway”. Channel O African Music Awards and Kora award nominees, Styl-Plus have performed with various local and international artists, like Boys II Men, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, and lots more They have also performed at both local and international events.

The Vibedownloads catalog will be available at various ticket sales outlets at Abuja and Lagos. In the catalogs are coupons, which give individuals a 20% discount on the tickets, which cost N1, 500 and N2, 500 for the Abuja and Lagos shows respectively. The Abuja show will hold on February 25, at the Nicon Hilton Transcorp, at 5pm, while the Lagos Show is at MUSON Centre on March 4, at 6pm. With sponsorship from the likes of Cool FM, NTA Plus, Astromedia, Doxa, and MTech, the concert is set to be major success.

The Vibedownloads Catalog is the brainchild of MTech, the pioneers of Value Added Services in Nigeria. According to Mr. Emmanuel Malaka, Product Manager, Vibedownloads, “The Vibedownloads catalog is created out of the need for subscribers to have a single reference handbook for obtaining & downloading various mobile content. The catalog is free of charge, which keeping is in line with MTech’s mission of ‘empowering the mobile generation’, Miss Seyi Famubode Vibedownloads’ Content Manager, added, “Subscribers will definitely enjoy this service as the content are unique, and fresh content are downloaded upon each request”.

The Vibedownloads service is a composition of various entertainment services, including; the mobile and web content download service (available on Vibedownloads Catalog and the Vibedownloads website “www.vibedownloads.com”, respectively). The service also includes Vibedownloads weekly email newsletter, media partnerships (with outfits like Cool FM, Lagos and Abuja, Music Africa, Cosmo FM, Enugu, Hip Hop World etc.), and event sponsorship and organization (such as the StylPlus album launch).

Aside form StylPlus, other major artists signed under Vibedownloads, for the reproduction of their songs for ringtones include; D’banj, PSquare, African China, Tony one week, 2Shotz, Ruggedman, and lots more

MTECH’S “VIBEDOWNLOADS” POWERS ANOTHER NOKIA PROMO.

16 February, 2006

MTech, under her entertainment service, “Vibedownloads”, and TELEC, one of the biggest distributors of Nokia mobile phones in Nigeria, are running another promo to reward 50,000 subscribers, who purchase particular models of Nokia phones. The objective of this promo is while promo lasts, with free Nigerian artistes’ ringtones and a Vibedownloads catalogue, for mobile content.

To partake in this promotion, customers only need to purchase any the Nokia 1100, 1110, 1600 or 2600 phone models, from any dealer in the eTel network. Inside each of those phone packs are scratch cards, with which the customer gets three free ringtones from the Vibedownloads website, www.vibedownloads.com. Various ringtones by “Vibedownloads” partner artists, such as; D’Banj, P-square, Styl-plus, 2 Shots, Ruggedman, African China and more, are available for selection.

Also in 20,000 of these phone packs will be free copies of the “Vibedownloads” catalogue, Vol. 1. “Vibedownloads”, features a suite of various SMS-based entertainment content, complied in a catalog – the “Vibedownloads catalog”. An assortment of exciting mobile content such as: jokes, horoscopes, Nigerian proverbs, latest hit movies, upcoming major entertainment events for the week, fashion tips and lots more, could be downloaded instantly onto the subscribers mobile phone, just by sending the relevant keyword (which is found in the catalogue) to a particular shortcode.

Prior to this promo, MTech powered another promo which ran in December on one of her media partners, Cool FM, via the Cool Mobile Channel, and lots of Nokia phones were given out to participants. According to MTech’s Head of Products and Operations, Mr. Hakeem Abdulraheem, “Nokia phones are very user-friendly and are also compatible with all our mobile content services. The objective of our partnership is to boost the Nigerian telecoms industry through mobile platforms, whether entertainment, sports, or lifestyle. And for the subscribers, for whom MTech entered the partnership, they should henceforth expect better quality value-added services”.

The ViBE/Nokia partnership is projected to be a very productive one as they both share similar goals and aspirations for the Nigerian mobile telecoms and entertainment industries. They are both consumer-oriented as both work to satisfy their subscribers. While Nokia strives to “connect people” by developing mobile phones of different grades and capacities, Vibe on the other hand strives to develop and deploy entertainment services that maximize the potential and capabilities of mobile phones, for the ultimate benefit of subscribers.

Nokia and Vibe also both seek to develop and enhance the Nigerian mobile entertainment industry. “Vibedownloads” supports the many artists whose music, pictures, jokes are used for their mobile content, sponsor and organize music concerts, such as the Styl-Plus Album Launch and Concert, and provide technical support for initiatives such as; powering the voting platform for the 2005 MOBO Award, in the UK. Nokia, the other hand, has sponsored major entertainment events such as the 2004 “MTV Base LIVE! Nigeria” - the pan-African party tour organized by the international Music channel, MTV.

MTech is undoubtedly Nigeria’s premier provider of mobile value-added service, currently servicing all four GSM companies in the country, and strives to enhance the mobile entertainment aspect of mobile telephony through ViBE. While Nokia, since the beginning of 1990s, has been the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, and constantly strives to meet consumer’s needs by providing the most user-friendly and multi-capacity mobile phones.

MTECH RUNS “PREDICT & WIN” FOR AFRICAN CUP OF NATIONS.

27 January, 2006

MTech Communications Ltd., on Friday January 20th, 2006 launched a mobile interactive football service called “Predict & Win”, which is her debut service under her football platform “Scores?!”.

“Predict and Win” is currently run based on the ongoing MTN African Cup of Nations football Competition, Egypt 2006. It involves GSM subscribers predicting the winners of pre-advertised matches by sending their predictions as a text message to 33050. Names of countries typed in the text message indicates a “win- prediction”, while omitting the name of a country indicates a draw. Subscribers with the correct predictions stand the chance of winning N10,000.

MTech is also running the Predict & Win service in conjunction with her media partners; Cool FM and Cosmo FM.

On Cool FM, the Predict & Win service is dedicated to the matches which feature the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Subscribers are asked to predict the results of the advertised upcoming match, and send it via their mobile phones as a text message to the short codes 33969. And 2 subscribers with correct predictions stand the chance of winning N5,000 each. While on Cosmo FM, questions are asked, based on the matches played and outstanding events that occur during the competition. Subscribers then send their answers to the short code 32050; and stand the chance of winning MTN or Vmobile recharge cards of different denominations, if they answer correctly.

Predict & Win game is a services under “Scores”- MTech’s independent sports brand that hosts a suite of football SMS-based services & content,. Mr. Elo Umeh, Product Manager, Scores stated that “The Scores brand is a representation of the burning desire of football loving Nigerians to constantly have the latest football information. Football lovers always ask for “the scores” of every game.” He goes further to add, “Scores is a demonstration of MTech’s commitment to delivery of world class mobile solutions that expand the avenues through which consumers and businesses expand their access diverse interests. Subscribers should look forward to other services on this platform”

MTech, owners of the Scores platform, is Nigeria’s leading mobile value added service company, providing download content and mobile technology solutions for all GSM companies in the country. In the past MTech has partnered with major media and sports marketing and management outfits, such as; the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Optima Sports Management International (OSMi). The partnership involved the provision of technical support and interactive mobile solutions for various sports programmes and games. Services such as, SMS to TV (where subscribers contribute to live programmes by sending text messeges and watch them being scrolled live), and mobile competitions (that involves subscribers sending answers to advertised questions via text message to a specified number, qiving then a chance to winning great prizes). Past references include; Tunisia 2004 Nokia African Cup of Nations, EURO 2004, UEFA Champions League, 2005

MTech commenced operations in 2001. Other than the Scores platform, MTech has a private entertainment brand called “Vibe” under which it provides mobile entertainment services through media partnerships, mobile and web entertainment content downloads, weekly newsletter, & event partnerships.

MTECH COLLABORATES WITH OSMi FOR UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE.

19 December, 2005

Optima Sports Management International (OSMi), the official broadcasters the UEFA Champions League Competitions for sub-Saharan Africa, has partnered with MTech to provide mobile interactive solutions for the matches.

The initiative which is called “Africa 11” is a game which has been running since the beginning of this season’s UEFA Champions League competition, in September. The game will have 11 winners, selected from a number of African Countries including Nigeria, and have them sponsored to watch the final match of the UEFA Champion’s League, at the Stade de France in Paris, in May 2006. To qualify, subscribers need to answer an advertised question, by sending a text message beginning with the letters “CFI#”, to 35050. Different questions will be run every 2 months, and the winners will be picked from a draw. Questions are currently being advertised on the OSMi partner TV stations including; AIT, Silverbird, MBI and DBN during the matches.

OSMi is an integrated group of sports marketing and service companies whose specialties include Sports Marketing, Events Management & Accreditation/ Event Ticketing, Broadcast Rights Acquisition & Marketing. OSMi’s project references include International Cup 2001, “Unity CUP” - of which they are event owners; World Cup France 1998, Olympic Games 2004, Africa Nations Cup 2004 and FIFA Under-17 2003. Mr. Rotimi Pedro, the Managing Director of OSMi, stated that “OSMi is unarguably, Nigeria’s leading sports marketing company. Since inception, we have strived for higher standards in sports marketing and management. Our passion, powered by an overriding commitment to excellence, and the will to continuously provide world class sports entertainment, informed our choice of MTech as technical partners”.

According to Mr. Hakeem Abdulraheem, Head, Product Development & Operations at MTech, “MTech has consistently demonstrated its technical expertise and deep understanding of the mobile entertainment needs of Nigerians and Africans”. This partnership between OSMi and MTech is a synergy of the top players in their respective industries and will go a long way to enhance mobile entertainment to mobile phone subscribers on the African continent”.

Other initiatives deployed by MTech in partnership with OSMi includes, an SMS competition titled “Jersey Number 12” which ran from August – September. The competition was won by Makinwa Agbede from Abule-Egba in Lagos. And his prize was a full VIP, all expense paid trip to Abuja, to watch the Nigeria- Zimbabwe World Cup qualifying match. Other prizes such as mobile phones were also won. The other initiative was an SMS – TV solution deployed during the Tunisia 2004 African Cup of Nations, which allowed subscribers to send messages and watch them being scrolled live during the matches.

The ongoing 25th edition of the African Cup of Nations has thrown the whole of Africa into frenzy, with 8 successful teams, including Nigeria, advancing in the competition. MTech, the nations premier value added service provider, has been running several, private and joint, sports interactive competitions, and has also began to reward successful participants.

The “Predict and Win” competition, which has been running, on Complete Sports magazine, since the beginning of the Nations Cup Competition, has produced several winners with the completion of the first round of the tournament. Winners of N10, 000 cash prizes include; Dozie Ibuakah, from Benin, Oluseyi Abraham Ojediran, from Lagos, and Alabi Johnson Paul from Lagos. Other consolation prizes such as GSM Recharge Cards of various denominations were also given out to winners. The winners expressed their pleasure and excitement in receiving the cash prize, of which they originally doubted its reality. The Managing Director of MTech, Mr. Chika Nwobi, presented their prizes to them, at the MTech Head office in Lagos, on 2nd of February 2006.

According to Alabi, one of the winners, “my friends and I did not believe in the competition at first but now I am a believer and I will spread the word… ” Ojediran had this to say, “I am very glad I won and I am looking forward to participating in the next one”. The third winner, Dozie, was not present as he is not a resident of Lagos. However, the MTech boss assured him that his prize money would be sent to him soonest.

In a statement by MTech’s Product Manager, Mr. Elo Umeh, “MTech aims at leveraging mobile technology with various fields like finance, marketing, media, sports…etc in order to keep people always connected to services that are vital to their everyday lives. It is in line with our goal of ‘empowering the mobile generation’ to look beyond seeing their mobile phone as just instruments of simple communication, but a tool for more interactive and productive applications”.

MTech is running other Nations Cup competitions promos in conjunction with her partners, Sportsville Communications and Premium Sports Management Services (PSMS). MTech deployed SMS-based solutions for their promos and provides technical support for them.

On the program run by Sportsville on Silverbird TV, questions are asked on every match day, and subscribers’ are to send their answers, as a text message beginning with “Egypt#” to number 33050. At the end of the tournament, the subscriber with the highest number of correct answers through out the duration of the program stands the chance of winning a car. The competition also runs on AIT.

While on PSMS, which runs a sports program on NTA 2, Lagos, subscribers predict the quarter finalists of the competition, by sending the names of the countries, beginning with “PSMS#”, as a text message, to 33050.

MTech also runs other mobile interactive competitions in collaboration with her media partners, Cool FM and Cosmo FM, for the Tournament. The “Predict and Win competition still runs on both radio stations, giving participants chances to participate and win great prizes.

MTECH PARTNERS WITH AUMG AND NIGERIAN BREWERIES FOR THE STAR MEGA JAM.

MTech is partnering, again, with the African Unite Music group (AUMG) for the Star Mega Jam competition, which is organized by Nigerian Breweries Plc.

This year’s edition of the Star Mega Jam consists of an SMS-based promo which is powered by MTech, the nation’s foremost mobile technology solutions provider. Subscribers stand the chance of winning up to 100 prizes which include; meeting the stars at the airport, winning VIP tickets to the concert and having dinner with the Artists. The promo involves subscribers answering the question; “Who was the international artiste for 2004 STAR MEGA JAM? Their options are (A) 10 Cent, (B) 50 Cent, (C) Michael Jackson, and they are to send their answers, as text messages, to the shortcode 33050, at the cost of 50 Naira. The promo will be on till 14 December 2005, and the winners will be notified on this same day.

The Star Mega Jam is an initiative of Nigerian Breweries Plc, producers of Gulder, Star, Legend extra stout, Maltina and Amstel Malta. It is an annual music concert, started 6 years ago. And it features international artistes, based on popular demand by Nigerians, to perform in concert, alongside indigenous artists. This year’s edition which, for the first time, features 2 international stars; Jeffrey Atkins a.k.a Ja Rule and Kevin Lyttle, is being organized in conjunction with AUMG, and is scheduled for December 16th and 17th, 2005 in Lagos and Port Harcourt. Previous Star Mega Jams concerts featured; Awilo Longomba, Shaggy, Usher Raymond, Koffi Olomide and 50 Cent.

They presently have a total of 4 breweries in Nigeria in Lagos, Aba, Kaduna, and the largest ultra modern brewery at Ibadan.
Africa Unite Music Group (AUMG), partners in this venture, is a platform created by UK-based organization, Zons PR, to showcase and promote African artists to the world entertainment industry. They recognize the need to develop the African entertainment industry, and to tackle this they sponsored the first-ever “Best African Act” category at the 2005 MOBO Awards held in the UK. AUMG’s partnership with the Star Mega Jam is driven by its objective to “establish a unique platform featuring artists from three distinct corners of the world – Africa, America and the UK – performing on the same stage” with the aim of “opening avenues for future collaborations”.
MTech, Nigeria’s leader in telecommunications Value Added Services provides the technical support for the promotion. The Managing Director of MTech, Mr. Chika Nwobi stated that, “we have worked with AUMG in the past and we share their views and aspirations for the Nigerian entertainment industry. We therefore seek ways contribute to its improvement by lending our technical expertise in mobile technology to support events, such as this”.

Prior to this, MTech partnered with AUMG to provide the mobile technical solution of the voting of the 2005 MOBO Awards held in September, this year. MTech works across all the Nigerian GSM operators to deliver services that empower the mobile generation by providing additional features and services for the benefits of mobile subscribers. These services include MTN WAP service, MTN Funtones, V-Active for Vmobile and Magic Plus for Glo Mobile. MTech has also worked with companies in other sectors to help them utilize the opportunities presented by GSM to improve their operations or customer service including Citizens Bank, British American Tobacco Company, Sosoliso Airlines and Virgin Nigeria.

MTECH PARTICIPATES AT “GSM AFRICA CONFERENCE 2005” IN SOUTH AFRICA …MD, Mr. Chika Nwobi, speaks on panel.

2 December, 2005

MTech Communications Limited, Nigeria’s leaders in mobile technology and value added service fully participated at the recent annual GSM Conference which took place in Cape Town, South Africa on the 30th of November and 1st of December, 2005.

GSM Africa is one of the GSM World Series events and is organized by Informa Telecoms & Media. It is a 2-day conference and exhibition that brings together the relevant industry leaders and is the centre point for all major players in the African GSM industry. This year’s agenda included two distinct streams to analyze the success stories from across the region as well as the best strategies and tactics to ensure continued market expansion, plus a look into Africa's wireless future with technologies such as GPRS, 3G and Wireless Broadband...”

Chika Nwobi, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder, MTech Communications Limited was a speaker on a panel to discuss “the Future Opportunities for Mobile – Games, Music, TV and More”. The GSM Conference organizers found him capable of sitting on this panel, and sharing his experiences, opinions and suggestions, considering his background and track record in the Nigerian GSM industry, since its inception in 2001.

Mr. Nwobi has spearheaded the launch of several successful innovative value added services in the GSM industry in Nigeria. Such unprecedented service launches include; the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) service, IVR (Interactive Voice Response) based ringtone service, live Web streaming solution for a top radio station, etc. He also led the establishment of partnerships with major media outfits in the country, such as Cool FM Lagos and Cosmo FM Enugu, to provide mobile interactive entertainment services such as ringtones, jokes, SMS…etc. Other discussants on this panel include: Heiko Kruse, Head of Technology, Innovation & Standardisation, Telecommunication Business Unit, Orga Kartensysteme and, Yoel Kenan, Chief Executive Officer, Keevision.

MTech also exhibited her products and services at the event along side other notable companies like; Inmobia, Huawei, Gemplus, Alcatel, Nokia, Ericsson etc. MTech personnel were on hand to exhibit latest innovations, network, build relationships and meet current and prospective clients/partners personally, and answer questions regarding their various services. MTech’s services which were showcased include; Mobile Banking, Mobile Interactive Marketing, Financial services, Mobile Media, Custom IT Solution Development and Consulting, Private branded services and Operator Value added services.

Since inception, GSM Africa has recorded huge success in terms of participation, with 1512 participants including 56% operator attendance in 2004. This years event will feature the typical unparalleled networking with senior level audience of; 20 board level operator speakers, 28% board level attendance to the conference, 120 exhibitors, 3 keynote interviews, 6 interactive panel sessions and over 60 global notable speakers including; Jay Naidoo, Chairman, Development Bank of Southern Africa; Marten Pieters, Chief Executive Officer, Celtel International; Pieter Uys, CEO, Vodacom Group; Bridgitte Bourgoin, Executive Vice President-International, Orange Group; Edem Ankude, Associate Director, Barclays Africa & Middle East; and Leon Perlman, Chairman, Wireless Application Service Providers Association.

MTECH RUNS PROMOS WITH HER MEDIA PARTNERS; COOL FM & MUSIC AFRICA.

6 December, 2005

MTech, under her entertainment platform – Vibe, has begun running series of promotions to reward interactive audience in conjunction with two of her various media partners, Cool FM and Music Africa.

The promo being run on Cool FM, which began on Tuesday the 29th of November 2005, is called the “Cool FM Crazy question Game”. It involves subscribers sending responses to a given question to the shortcode 33969, as a text message. The radio presenter has the liberty to decide which answer he deems original and sensible, and awards the subscriber with the “cool mobile gift basket”. The cool mobile gift basket includes: Two hours browsing time at the cool café, a N2000 cool talk international calling card, N1500 MTN & N1500 Vmobile recharge cards and a N2, 000 Chocolate Royal voucher. One question will be asked per day and this will be done three times a week.

The other promo which is being run on Music Africa is called “the Music Africa Rap Game”. The game entails subscribers sending in nice rhyming lyrics, created by them, of only 160 characters to the shortcode, 32055. The best two rhymes will be selected and scrolled everyday on the music Africa show every week, and other subscribers will vote for the one they think is better. The winners then win recharge cards worth N1500 for MTN subscribers and N1500 for Vmobile subscribers and their rhymes qualifies them for a grand prize of N10, 000 cash.

Mobile Media is one of the various mobile driven solutions that are provided by MTech Communication, the nation’s leader in mobile technology company. It involves partnering with various media outfits such as, Cool FM and Music Africa, to provide mobile-based initiatives which improve interactivity for both TV and Radio. The initiatives, which include custom ringtones, and SMS-based mobile solutions such as; SMS-TV, games and competitions, voting etc… are integrated with existing programs. According to Chika Nwobi, Managing Director of MTech, “MTech is pursuing these joint initiatives with leading media organizations in order to leverage the strengths of our respective organizations by offering a range of value added services to the GSM consumer market”.

“Vibe on Cool FM” offers listeners exciting services such as custom ringtones, interactive games and competitions, voting and sending of requests and greetings on both Cool FM, Lagos and Abuja. Music Africa is an independent television program currently being run on Silverbird TV every weekday. MTech provides custom ringtones and also deployed a solution, SMS- TV, which allows subscribers to send messages, requests, votes and greetings, and watch it being scrolled live on the Television screen. Vibe’s other media partners include Cosmo FM, Enugu, Hip-Hop World etc.

One of MTech’s Mobile Media promos, “The 969 game’, ran on Cool FM for 4 weeks between October 21 and November 11, 2005. The game gave its participants the opportunity to win “cool cash” by sending correct answers to a question of the week, via a text message, to 33969. The 69th and the 96th participants with the correct answer won 1,500 Naira and 3,000 Naira worth of mobile phone airtime, respectively, while the 969th participant with the correct answer won 10,000 Naira.

MTECH’S “VIBEDOWNLOADS” POWERS 969 GAME, ON COOL FM.

16 November 2005

The 969 game is one of the several mobile interactive services currently being run on Cool FM’s “Cool Mobile” channel and is powered by MTech, under her entertainment platform, “Vibe”. 969 game, is a mobile game that was launched on Friday, October 21, 2005 and runs weekly on 96.9 Cool FM, Lagos. The month long promotion ran till November 11, 2005.

The game gave its participants the opportunity to win “cool cash” by sending correct answers to a question of the week, via a text message, to 33969. The 69th and the 96th participants with the correct answer won 1,500 Naira and 3,000 Naira worth of mobile phone airtime, respectively, while the 969th subscriber with the correct answer won 10,000 Naira.

“Vibe on Cool FM” is one of media channels though which MTech’s creates more avenues for subscribers to enjoy more mobile interactive services. Cool FM’s reputation as one of the most listened to radio stations in Nigeria, informed MTech’s choice of her as a media partner. COOL FM is a wholly private radio station. It started operations on October 1st 1998, with a coverage area of the South West(state exactly the territory Cool FM covers) of Nigeria, (I think u should say here when Cool FM Abuja commenced operations)is presently the only 24 hour radio station in the nation’s capital territory, Abuja.

“Vibedownloads”, Mtech’s private entertainment brand, offers a rich variety of download content such as monophonic and polyphonic ringtones, jokes, horoscopes, screen savers, logos, entertainment news, local & international ringtones and music charts etc.

Vibe is an initiative of MTech Communications Limited, the pioneer value added service (VAS) company in Nigeria., created to The platform employs multiple media partnerships/channels, (mobile and web download content (Vibedownloads), event partnerships and sponsorships) to provide entertainment services to mobile phone subscribers.. Already, Vibe is available on Vmobile, MTN and Glo in Nigeria and is being established on other networks across the continent. Vibe’s partnerships with major media outfits in the country like, Cool FM, are primarily to give individuals a more exciting experience by making audience or viewership of radio and television programs more interactive. Vibe’s “Cool Mobile” channel offers SMS based services including custom ringtones, interactive games and competitions (such as the 969 Game), voting and sending of requests and greetings.

“Vibeweekly”, another product of Vibe, is a weekly newsletter which features movie reviews, latest local and international entertainment news, top ten music and ringtones, update on events of the previous week as well as information on upcoming events. Subscribers could sign up by visiting www.vibedownloads.com.

MTECH POWERS NASFAT “DAILY AYAAT” SERVICE

14 October, 2005

MTech the country’s leading mobile technology solutions provided has partnered with the Nasrul-Lahi-Fathi Society (NASFAT) of Nigeria to provide the Muslim community with a download service called “Daily Ayaat”.

NASFAT sought to further enlighten the Muslim community on the ways and teachings of Islam and needed a convenient medium to do so. MTech then provided a mobile technology solution which allows individuals to receive the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed (SAW), Glorious Hadith or Qu’ran, as text messages, on their mobile phones every morning for 6 days after subscribing. This service was launched on May 22nd 2005.

MTech provides the technical platform, as well as, ongoing technical support for the service. According to MTech boss, Mr. Chika Nwobi, “MTech is always looking for ways to exploit the technical capabilities of the growing GSM networks and mobile phones to offer useful services to subscribers. The NASFAT Daily Ayaat service provides us with a very practical opportunity to give subscribers a service that is very easy and affordable to use yet very powerful in its impact. We believe that subscribers will really enjoy the service and we look forward to making the Daily Ayaat available to all other GSM subscribers on all networks in Nigeria within the next few weeks because MTech already has infrastructure with all the operators.” MTech seeks to leverage mobile technology with the provision of consumer services such as this.”

To subscribe for the service, subscribers need to do is to send the word “Ayaat” as a text message to 300161, for MTN subscribers, and 35056, for Vmobile subscribers. The service is premium billed at N100 only.

VIBEDOWNLOADS DEBUTS ON COSMO FM, ENUGU.

22 February 2005

A private branded mobile interactive entertainment service, VIBE, was recently launched on Cosmo FM Enugu.

Vibe on Cosmo was launched with a party which held at Spring Fellows, one of the top rated spots in Enugu. The launch party featured stars like 2 Shotz, Azulu and KB of the Trybesmen and was covered by Music Africa, Hip Hop World and Applause magazine.

As a result of this initiative, Vibe will be enhancing Cosmo’s radio programmes by providing ringtones on the music charts, a platform for voting on request shows and interactive games on the radio station. Through this Vibe partnership, Cosmo listeners will be able to enjoy a more interactive listening experience.

Vibe is an initiative of MTech Communications, the nations leading Telecom VAS provider. Chika Nwobi, CEO of MTech, explained that, “the initiative was created as a result of a need to provide entertainment related services for GSM subscribers” such as ringtones, jokes, horoscopes, screensavers and lots more. As part of this initiative, VIBE is actively going into partnership with top media outfits across the country in order to widen its reach.

The Vibe Product Manager, Emmanuel Malaka, explained that “Cosmo was chosen as the first radio station to launch the service in the eastern region considering its coverage in 13 states of the federation. These include; Anambra, Abia, Imo, Ebonyi and Enugu, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Delta, Edo and Rivers in the Niger Delta, and Benue, Kogi and Niger. These areas cover a number of tertiary institutions thereby serving the target audience of people aged between 18-35 years”.

According to Mr. Jika Attoh, CEO of Cosmo FM, “We decided to partner with MTech on the Vibe initiative because we feel it is important to give our listeners the most interactive experience possible. MTech demonstrates the ability to deploy mobile technology in innovative ways which we can use to boost entertainment. The Vibe brand and the Cosmo brand have similar values and we felt they would be very complimentary to each other”.

MTech Communications, owners of the VIBE service, is the premier value-added service provider in the country. They offer mobile, voice and Web technology solutions and services by combining their expertise in mobile application technologies with their network of relationships with telecom operators, advertising agencies, media organizations and other content providers. This enables them to develop innovative marketing, banking, entertainment, communications and other business solutions.

MTech intends to make VIBE the biggest mobile interactive and entertainment brand in Africa by leveraging its expertise in mobile technology and close relationship with mobile operators and media houses across the continent to deliver compelling mobile entertainment services to subscribers.

Already, Vibe is available on VMobile, MTN and Glo in Nigeria and is being established on other networks across the continent. Vibe is going to be engaged in partnerships with major radio stations like CoolFM and Cosmo FM, TV stations, concert organisation and sponsorship in the nearest future.

To get more information on this service and download content, subscribers can go to www.vibedownloads.com