MAP Telecom selects Kirusa Voice SMS technology

MAP Telecom and Kirusa bring proven Voice SMS application to mobile carriers in the Middle East and North Africa

Monaco, and Edison, New Jersey – November 17, 2005:  MAP Telecom, a leading IVR hosting company and application aggregator in the EMEA region, and Kirusa, the leading provider of Voice SMS application and multimodal solutions enabling mobile application delivery, announced a partnership to bring Kirusa’s Voice SMS application to mobile operators in the Middle East and North Africa. The strategic partnership, which combines MAP Telecom’s hosting and VoiceXML capability and Kirusa’s multimodal technology, allows for the delivery of complete solutions to carriers in the region.

With Kirusa’s Voice SMS application, a user can send an SMS message simply by dialing *, followed by the recipient’s phone number, without the pain of typing the message on a small mobile keypad. An SMS is delivered to the recipient, without having the phone ring (RingFree MessagingSM). The recipient is not disturbed, and can pick up the message at his leisure. The application also provides for users to reply to text SMS messages with voice. The Voice SMS application has proven to be immensely successful at several carriers, in terms of the number of users, number of voice SMS messages sent, and the amount of revenue generated. Among Kirusa’s satisfied customers is GrameenPhone, the market-leading operator in Bangladesh owned by Telenor, with more than five million subscribers.

“Following the recent overwhelming success of Kirusa’s Voice SMS service in Asia, I am confident that the application will prove equally useful in the geographies we are targeting” explains Dr. Michaela Heigl, Chief Commercial Officer of MAP Telecom. “Mobile phone users who do not know how to write or find typing into a keypad too cumbersome, are now able to send and reply to SMS messages by using their voice, at a low cost. For mobile carriers this service is a revenue generator, since it appeals to a much larger user base compared to traditional voicemail and text messaging applications.”

Damon Miller, Director of Business Development of Kirusa, adds “MAP Telecom has deep domain expertise in voice and messaging applications, and strong relationships with operators in the Middle East and North Africa. Through this partnership, we can bring this innovative and user-friendly voice SMS service to consumers in the Middle East and North Africa.” 

About MAP Telecom

MAP Telecom, the unique voice hosting activity in Monaco, offers secure and cost-effective hosting of IVR applications in Europe , Middle East and Africa, on the public telephone network as well as over Skype. The online service creation environment Voxbuilder (www.voxbuilder.com) allows developers and application owners to build and manage multiple voice services on a VoiceXML 2.0 compliant platform, located in a secure and fully redundant hosting environment. The offering is completed by a range of solutions specifically aimed at developers. Customers of MAP Telecom include Skype, Ericsson, Assurland, ICQ, Cofiroute and VoiceObjects.

For further information, please go to www.map-telecom.com.

About Kirusa

Kirusa is one of the leading global developers of Mobile Social Media and Value Added Services enabling mobile subscribers to reach out to their family and friends. Kirusa’s solutions include the hugely successful Kirusa Voice SMS service, the world’s most advanced Voice SMS solution, used by over 30 carriers around the world. Kirusa has pioneered a suite of social media applications that facilitate mobile subscribers to interact through voice, including the Call-n-Tweet application which helps users update their Twitter status using voice. Kirusa provides an open platform with APIs to enable third parties to offer mobile applications services to mobile subscribers. Used by mobile subscribers millions of times daily, Kirusa solutions are built on its patented and patent pending technology and its highly reliable and scalable open multimodal platform. Kirusa has been recognized as one of top 100 technology companies by Silicon India, and one of top 25 emerging technology companies by Smart Techie magazine. Headquartered in New Jersey and led by an experienced team of wireless telecom executives and technologists, Kirusa has offices in three continents. ‘Kirusa Voice SMS,’ is a trademark of Kirusa, Inc.

For more information visit: www.kirusa.com.

Media Contacts

Kirusa
Navneet Anand
GreyMatters Communications
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