Here are 4 questions for Victor Donselaar, president of Movial

Can you tell us about the launch with Optimus ?
Sure, we’re very excited about the fact that mobile operator, Optimus has selected  Movial to launch its brand new mass market IP Communication PC service. With Movial’s PC client software, Communicator, Optimus is extending its services to PC users for the first time, increasing  their subscriber base and offering their more than 2.6 million  existing subscribers an additional and exciting channel for rich,  multimedia communication. Movial Communicator has enabled Optimus to quickly and easily launch their PC service and it provides a  compelling and fully integrated end-user experience that includes IM,  SMS, MMS, email, VoIP, video telephony, voice and video mail, all  based on Presence. You can check it out at www.optimustag.pt .

Why does an operator have interest in the PC world ?
This is a great question. Affordable mobile broadband for PCs is the next big service “wave” to catch on and it’s expected to grow rapidly even in the saturated markets of Western Europe. From an end-user  perspective, mobile broadband PC service is easy to buy and use and  from a mobile operator perspective, it’s easy to market and sell. The  emergence of the PC as an end user device for mobile data services is  the main driver of new traffic growth. Today, operators have an enormous opportunity to expand their existing assets by combining them  into rich offerings. The key to success is predicated on the ability to focus on end-user needs and the ability to think beyond the initial success of mobile broadband. Failure will come to those that continue  to promote service silos – single services tied to a single subscription. Failure will also be signalled by creating services that only function  on a mobile device, but not on a PC. Operators have to bring to market  services that are easy to use and are well integrated.

We should highlight here the benefits for the operator :
– Voice revenues are going down
– mobile broadband is very attractive now BUT in the long run when people use it more the price competition will take margins down AND increase costs are more network equipment needs to be managed and acquired to enable the growth in data
– Therefore mobile operators will need to bundle access plus value added services if they want to remain a service and not bitpipe provider
– therefore, we see mobile operators that have nothing to loose on the fixed line and only to gain, start to offer a multi-play with Mobile and PC bundles with access and a service such as Optimus with their PC Communicator client that combines all communication services in a great user experience

How does this agreement benefit Movial ?
Optimus is an industry leader in the Portuguese telecommunications  market, but it is also well known in the international community for its innovation and ability to quickly and successfully launch new products and services ahead of its competition. Optimus selected Movial’s Communicator PC software based on our proven track record for a highly intuitive and consistent user experience that generates more communication. Movial is really excited to have played a critical role in helping Optimus be one of the first mobile operators to quickly and easily launch a mass-market IP Communications PC Service. They are a great example of what can be done to make the leap from Mobile operator to a PC play and successfully launch a brand new and compelling, revenue generating communication service.