Ever tried to configure your phone for GPRS or MMS? Ever cursed that you have to do it again when you change model? Ever called your operator's help-desk only to find that you are number 23 in line? You are not alone – this is exactly why most people never try mobile data services beyond SMS.
A solution is automatic device configuration (ADC). It is a service built into the network to keep track of all user handsets and make sure they are configured to suit their capabilities and that the network's services are activated accordingly. Ericsson has more than ten commercial agreements for ADC and the solution is being operated in partnership with Synapse and Aepona.
Cytamobile-Vodafone, Cyprus' biggest operator with 650,000 subscribers, was one of the first to implement the Synapse solution, in December 2003.
Lefteris Christou, head of commercial and financial administration for Cytamobile-Vodafone, says the main reason they started using ADC was to make it as easy as possible for subscribers to use MMS and achieve a better service uptake than usual. But the result was far beyond expectations.
"Thirty percent of our customer base had an MMS phone at the time," Christou says. "This, together with a free-of-charge period at launch and the ease of configuration, resulted in a peak of more than 100,000 MMSs in one day. After one week, we had to close the service to increase capacity."
Today, Cytamobile-Vodafone has more than 266,000 registered MMS users (more than 40 percent of the subscriber base). These generate between 20,000 and 30,000 MMSs per day at EUR 0.17 to 0.21 per MMS, depending on message size. The system also provides the operator with useful information on subscribers.
"We now know exactly what phones are used in our network," Christou says. "This way we can plan promotion campaigns for new models and when new services are introduced, we know how many terminals capable of the service are already in use on the network.
"Without ADC, we'd still be spending a lot of money in promoting MMS, still struggling with the configuration issue and not having the level of traffic we have today. ADC has definitely paid off."
