Muzicall, which provides ringback tone (RBT) services, has announced a strategic partnership with IMImobile, the global technology partner for operators, media providers and enterprises. Muzicall and IMImobile will join forces to foster new RBT business opportunities and accelerate the growth of RBT consumer services throughout Europe. The companies will offer mobile operators a fully-managed service, with the aim of maximising maximise consumer adoption, and facilitating improved discovery through new channels such as off-deck RBT sales.

IMImobile will draw on its experience in delivering RBT technology in Asia-Pacific and Africa, where RBT services are extremely popular. Muzicall will use its best practice framework developed through its Centre of Excellence for ringback tone marketing, which it says has a proven track record of significantly increasing RBT consumer adoption rates for leading mobile operators in Europe. In the past 12 months, Muzicall has grown the number of RBT subscribers across its managed services by more than 300 per cent.

“In many ways, Muzicall and IMImobile offer complementary RBT services, so it makes sense for the two companies to work together to grow the European ringback tone market,” says Muzicall CEO, Patrick Allainguillaume. “IMImobile has excellent experience in developing successful ringback tone technology. There is a huge opportunity in Europe, with only 2 per cent of mobile phone users owning ringback tones, whereas in regions such as India, that number is above 25 per cent.”

IMImobile CEO Vishwanth Alluri adds: “With the right focus, IMImobile believes RBT services can be a valuable revenue generator for European operators, as a standalone service, or as part of a complete music lifestyle solution encompassing full-track music, social networking and personalisation content. IMImobile’s flexible technology and experience, gained from over 21 RBT deployments, alongside Muzicall’s fully-managed RBT service expertise and marketing knowledge, will prove a compelling proposition for operators keen to explore new revenue sources.”

In the past 12 months Muzicall has grown the number of ringback tone subscribers across its managed services by more than 300 per cent. This success is in part due to the expertise Muzicall has gained from managing ringback tone services with numerous operators across Europe.