Tango dials up trade mission success

27-05-2008

by Bryan Collins

Mobile messaging provider Tango Telecom launched its SMS advertising platform for Latin America during an Enterprise Ireland trade mission to Brazil and Mexico.

Limerick-based Tango Telecom's iAX SMS Advertising delivers SMS advertising to mobile subscribers via peer-to-peer messaging or sponsored SMS delivery reports. The solution also provides reporting and tracking facilities for operators and advertisers as well as opt-in and opt-out functionality for subscribers. The iAX platform is currently being used by Bakrie Telecom, Indosat and O2, while the SMS advertising tool is currently being tested by a client of Tango Telecom in Asia.

According to Richard Choi, vice-president of sales and marketing at Tango Telecom, the new SMS solution enables "operators to deliver a mix of targeted advertising and useful personalised content such as news services without disrupting normal service flow".

"It is essential that subscribers receive real benefits from the proposed SMS advertising and do not see it as spam, so iAX SMS Advertising enables the slicing and dicing of subscriber data to ensure the right message gets to the right person, managing the frequency, relevance and target of the advertising," he added.

Tango Telecom is one of over 40 firms taking part in an Enterprise Ireland trade mission which is being led by the minister for international trade, John McGuinness, and the chief executive officer of Enterprise Ireland Frank Ryan. The firms on the mission include Kerry-based telecommunications software firm, Altobridge, and Dublin-based mobile software firm Changing Worlds.

"Seeing first hand, the social and economic developments here in Brazil, it is clear that significant opportunities will continue to arise for Irish companies particularly in Brazil, which continues to grow to its predicted position of fifth largest economy in the world by 2050. These areas include telecommunications, financial services, oil and gas, agricultural equipment and food processing technologies, aerospace technologies and educational services," said McGuinness.

The participants in the Enterprise Ireland venture are hoping to capitalise on the success achieved by the firms that participated in the Enterprise Ireland's trade mission to Silicon Valley earlier this year. That trip saw 10 Irish businesses, including IT services firm Bard from Cork, return with deals worth USD29 million.

Meanwhile, as part of the current trip, Irish engineering company MCS has signed a one-year frame agreement with Brazil's national oil company, Petrobras. This is the third such deal between the two companies and covers technical engineering for multi-bore hybrid risers, bundles, flowlines and pipe-in-pipe constructs.

"MCS has enjoyed a long and productive relationship with Petrobras. This new contract award consolidates MCS' position in the Brazilian market, demonstrating our capability to cover locally a wide range of services in the sub-sea industry to a consistently high standard,” said Otavio Serta, director of MCS in Rio de Janeiro.