SpinVox Takes U.S. by Storm with First North American Carrier Agreement
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Cincinnati Bell Leads US Market Roll-Out of Innovative Voice-to-Screen Services
LONDON & ATLANTA--SpinVox, the leading provider of Voice-to-Screen(TM) messaging for consumer, enterprise and carrier markets, today announced an agreement with Cincinnati Bell to roll-out SpinVox Voice-to-Screen services to Cincinnati Bell's customer base. This agreement will extend SpinVox's award-winning voice messaging service from its current European service into North America.
As the first carrier to deploy SpinVox Voice-to-Screen services in the U.S., Cincinnati Bell subscribers will be able to receive voice messages as a text message or email anytime, anywhere. The company will deliver simpler but highly valuable messaging services initially to its wireless subscribers in Spring 2007, followed by services offered to its wireline customers. Cincinnati Bell has a combined 1.4 million wireline and wireless customer connections. The agreement represents an important step in SpinVox's mission to provide Voice-to-Screen services globally.
According to Rodney Dir, chief operating officer of Cincinnati Bell: "SpinVox provides a sophisticated new service that will further differentiate our product offering within the market, and enhance the customer experience by making their communications simpler. With the flexibility that the SpinVox service provides, our customers will be able to read a voicemail via text message when they may not be available to accept a call or dial into their voicemail box."
Christina Domecq, CEO of SpinVox, commented: "Voice-to-Screen messaging is a simple but powerful idea that will transform our daily communication. Our promise is to make messaging as simple and natural as speaking it, as easy to use as glancing at it on any screen, and as effortless as one click to respond.
"We're delighted that Cincinnati Bell, an innovative U.S. telecommunications provider has partnered with SpinVox to lead the market with services that deliver a unique experience for subscribers and creates valuable and exciting new markets for messaging services. This is the tipping point for convergence and Cincinnati Bell is ideally placed to deliver exciting, powerful services like SpinVox to their customers."
SpinVox already has 12 scheduled deployments this year with carriers worldwide for its multi-lingual Voicemail-to-Text service. SpinVox expects to announce further North American deals at CTIA Wireless in March 2007. In addition, carrier deployments of its recently launched Voice-to-Screen products are expected in the latter half of 2007.
SpinVox has invested over three years researching, developing and deploying a world-class, ISO-certified, carrier-grade service platform. The platform is capable of integrating directly with any carrier's voice messaging platform, enabling carriers to offer highly innovative Voice-to-Screen messaging products to all of their subscribers. SpinVox is headquartered in the UK with offices in five countries, including North America and is privately backed by private equity and international finance giants with funds in excess of US$48 million.
SpinVox has established the market for Voice-to-Screen, delivering exceptional new value from existing core voice and messaging services. Today, SpinVox is available in four major languages: International English, Spanish, French and German with further languages in development.
In addition, SpinVox is capable of offering hosted voice messaging services that unlock huge value from non-voicemail markets with simple and relevant Voice-to-Screen products. The first was announced at 3GSM World Congress - Missed Call Messenger(TM) that enables a caller to speak a text or email directly to the person they are trying to reach, rather than hanging up or hitting an engaged tone. This market represents over US$4 billion annually.
About Cincinnati Bell
Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE:CBB) is parent to one of the nation's most respected and best performing local exchange and wireless providers with a legacy of unparalleled customer service excellence. Cincinnati Bell provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services to residential and business customers in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. For more information, visit www.cincinnatibell.com.
About SpinVox
SpinVox brought together the two most popular methods of communication - voice to text - and created a new category of messaging called Voice-to-Screen. Its award-winning technology is now enabling everyday communication to be exciting, more powerful and above all simpler through the simple gestures of speaking and reading. These unique experiences are driving new recurring revenues for mobile and fixed-line operators.
At the heart of SpinVox is its patented Voice Message Conversion System(TM) (VMCS), which underpins the company's retail, enterprise, service provider and global carrier products. VMCS is maintained on an enterprise-class hardware infrastructure by an expert management team to meet the rigorous demands of global carriers.
SpinVox created the world's first Voicemail-to-Text service in 2003 and launched it in 2005 through partnerships with major UK retailers such as The Carphone Warehouse, The Link, Caudwell Group/4uBusiness and Hutchinson 3G.
Able to support multiple languages, SpinVox now leads the way in powering the convergence of voice and screen in today's messaging markets. As well as serving retail brands and a growing direct customer base, the company's innovative products are in service with global carriers and internet brands.
SpinVox -- because speaking is the most natural way to send a message, and reading the most useful way to receive one
Click here to see the full list of awards: www.spinvox.com/news/awards.php
Contacts
Porter Novelli for SpinVox
Jennifer Moore, 404-995-4505
jennifer.moore@porternovelli.com
or
HSR Business to Business for Cincinnati Bell
Jill Cobb, 513-378-5788
jcobb@hsr.com
