Re Contract
October 20 2003 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:0576R
DA Group PLC
20 October 2003
DA Group plc ("DA")
AGREEMENT WITH SMART COMMUNICATIONS INC ("SMART")
DA announces that it has entered into an agreement, with effect from 19 October
2003, with SMART, the largest mobile phone network provider in the Philippines,
for the provision by DA of animated character technology and proprietary
characters (known as "StereoTypes") for use by mobile phone subscribers to
SMART's network.
The combination of DA's proprietary technology and animated characters and
SMART's network and multimedia messaging service platform will enable
subscribers with suitably configured mobile phones to send text messages
accompanied by an animated StereoType character chosen from a menu of six
different characters. The chosen character will deliver an animated sequence
before and after the text message appropriate to the mood of the message in
question - for example, the StereoType character can deliver an animated
sequence showing joy, boredom, impatience and other moods from a total menu of
fourteen.
SMART has committed to market this new offering through a three month marketing
program to its 11 million subscribers in the Philippines, a market which
accounts for approximately 10% of all SMS messages sent around the world
Under the agreement, DA will receive monthly revenues based on a fixed
proportion of the charge to subscribers for each message delivered using a
StereoType character. The agreement is for an initial period of twelve months,
and SMART has agreed that for six months it will not enter into any competing
services to those provided by DA. The agreement will continue indefinitely after
the initial twelve month period subject to a ninety-day notice period from each
party.
Commenting on the agreement, Mike Antliff, CEO of DA, said:
"I'm delighted to announce our partnership with SMART. The deal reflects
DA's technology lead and our belief that StereoTypes offers something
unique to mobile operators. We went to one of the most demanding markets in
the world and proved that we have a very marketable and potentially very
lucrative product in StereoTypes."
Mr. Anastacio R. Martirez, Head of Personal Communications and Mobile Services
at SMART said:
"SMART is a market leader and in a market like ours we have to constantly
improve so we can keep offering the best possible services to our
customers. We believe that DA Group's StereoTypes will allow us to build on
our reputation and offer our customers an innovative and useful service.
"We are sure that StereoTypes will be a great success for SMART and DA
Group."
Enquiries
Paul McCaffrey, Finance Director
Cyril Scott, Sales Director
0141 582 0600
Elizabeth Lambley/Elaine McKean, Indigo PR
0131 554 1230
lizzylambley@indigopr.com, emckean@indigopr.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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