Tanla Solutions Mobile Updates

Tanla Solutions Ltd has announced that Tanla Mobile Ltd, a subsidiary of the Company is issuing a press release about Tanla Mobile publishing a Marketing and Advertising Guide in the United Kingdom, which is as follows :

"Tanla Mobile, the global leader for wireless application development, mobile billing and messaging solutions, today unveils its benchmark-setting guide to mobile marketing and advertising. Aiming to cast light on the complexities of this increasingly critical communications channel, the guide provides a clear, unbiased view of the current market.

The Tanla guide aims to offer step-by-step guidance to agencies and brands about how to design, launch and manage mobile marketing campaigns. Edited by mobile marketing guru Helen Keegan and drawing on the expertise of senior figures at 02, Vodafone, Admob and Emerging Media Platforms, the Tanla Mobile Marketing and Advertising Guide identifies key areas that must be addressed for the industry to thrive. It promises to be essential reading for all marketing and mobile executives.

"2008 promises to be the year that mobile marketing truly earns its spurs but the Guide has revealed that there exists a growing knowledge gap that threatens to hold it back," explains Gautam Sabharwal, Director, Tanla Mobile. "Mobile marketing has promised much and has become a critical element in the marketing mix but the feeling persists that many companies do not yet know how to make the most out of mobile marketing possibilities. That’s why we have spent the past eight months developing this guide to provide the mobile industry with answers to the challenges and opportunities that exist."

The Guide covers every aspect of mobile's place in the marketing mix. From campaign mechanisms to common challenges, from leveraging user-generated content to exploiting mobile TV, it contains everything mobile executives need to know about this rapidly evolving market.

The Tanla Mobile Marketing and Advertising Guide will be officially launched on Monday 11th February at the Mobile World Congress. Tanla Mobile is hosting a reception, attended by leading executives from the global mobile industry, at the Lika Lounge, Passatge de Domingo."

Tanla gets order from Lime Communications

Tanla Solutions Ltd has announced that Lime Communications appoints Tanla Mobile to manage 3.4 million on pack promotion text to win competition for Vanish and Woolite. A promotional campaign to support the forthcoming release of the latest Walt Disney Studios, Desperate Housewives DVD - 'The Dirty Laundry Edition' using a Text to Win competition is to be hosted and managed by Tanla Mobile. The campaign has been designed by leading film and DVD promotions agency Lime Communications, and is being run in partnership with Reckitt Benckiser who will promote it across 3.4 million packs of their Vanish and Woolite brands in the UK.

Consumers submit a text message with their name and postcode to a short code number printed on each pack, with all entrants and selection of winners managed using the Tanla Campaign Manager platform. Prizes including copies of the show's DVD, a Mazda MX5, trips to Los Angeles and washing machines will be selected at random on each day of the promotion and awarded daily to a winner, also selected at random from the entrants received the previous day.

The campaign will also be supported across major supermarkets and grocery stores in the UK via Point of Sale promotion, plus substantial advertising and media spend. Desperate Housewives, 'The Dirty Laundry Edition' DVD goes on sale in the UK on November 5th. The Text to Win campaign runs until February 28, 2008.

"This is a superb example of how well run Mobile campaigns can add a great deal of value to a high profile DVD release such as this," commented Gautam Sabharwal, Director of the Company. "Working with Lime Communications and global brands such as Disney and Reckitt & Benckiser underlines the effectiveness of the Tanla Mobile platform to deliver mobile campaigns which reach millions of people."

Tanla launches US operations

Tanla Solutions Ltd has informed that Tanla Mobile Inc., (a step-down subsidiay of Tanla Solutions Ltd in United States of Amercia) a leading provider of mobile messaging, billing, payments and interactive services on October 23, 2007 announced the launch of its U.S. operations at the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment show in San Francisco. Entering the North American market, Tanla looks to bring its elevated mobile experience honed across Europe and India to the bourgeoning U.S. market.

Offering content and campaign management, interactive platforms, mobile payments and global messaging services, Tanla Mobile delivers targeted applications and services to meet the unique requirements of different market verticals including media, digital content, enterprise and mobile operators. Its fully integrated offering provides a one-stop shop for operators as well as content providers and enterprises to easily and affordably deploy customized interactive applications and mobile marketing campaigns.

"Our research shows voice revenues in the U.S. mobile market are in decline due to intense competition among mobile operators," said Vikrant Gandhi, industry analyst with Frost & Sullivan's North American Information & Communication Technologies practice. “Mobile operators are now looking at consumer data applications such as ringtones, games, mobile video services and other Premium Content to augment their data revenues. Tanla Mobile can help content and service providers leverage these opportunities by optimizing their mobile application potential and alleviating the complexity of delivering these services through an integrated solution."

"Mobile adoption rates in the U.S. have reached such a precarious state that operators are under intense pressure to find alternate means to increase ARPU" said N V Subba Rao, President and CEO - North America, Tanla Mobile. "As the only Company in this sector that provides an integrated mobile solution encompassing content management, messaging, payments and customised applications, we're excited at the opportunity to help U.S. content and service providers generate new data revenue, optimize business efficiencies and improve consumer interactivity."

With the opening of its New York offices, the Company broadens its worldwide reach and sales footprint to include Europe, India, Americas, Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. Tanla Mobile solutions play a central role in leveraging the mobile channel by providing value-added solutions and customised mobile services that enable brands, content publishers and enterprises to achieve their strategic business objectives and develop profitable customer relationships.

The Americas operation is headed by N V Subba Rao, President & CEO - Tanla Mobile Inc. Prior to this appointment, Subba Rao served as COO of Airtel, India’s # 1 mobile operator brand and has held senior positions worldwide at leading consumer brands including P&G.

The newly appointed senior management team also includes well-recognised industry leaders who have worked with leading global telecommunications Companies. Asit Ahluwalia (Formerly with Nortel Networks and AT&T) has been appointed as VP — Sales; Ramesh Balakrishnan (Formerly with Critical Path and Amdocs) will be heading Marketing & Business Development and Robert Schmidt (Formerly with Nortel Networks and AT&T) will head Technical Operations and Customer Support.

Tanla and O2 agreement

Tanla Solutions Ltd has announced that Company and O2 have entered into an agreement under which Tanla may sell or market commercial WAP services to any O2 Subscriber via PayForlt mobile billing services in the UK. Tanla Mobile - selected earlier this year as an intermediary granted 'accredited payment' status across all mobile operators — will work closely with O2 in the delivery of PayForlt mobile payment services.

PayForlt is the cross operator initiative that has been heralded as a future driving force behind making mobile commerce a reality for UK consumers, content and service providers alike. On the September 01, 2007 operators such as O2 are permitting accredited partners to deliver PayForlt (a WAP based billing service) as part of their offering.

PayForlt enables a 'click and buy' experience similar to a purchase consumers make on a mobile operator portal or 'traditional' internet shopping.

PayForlt is a true micro transaction initiative as consumers can buy goods and services priced up to a maximum of £5-£10 depending on the operator. It is believed that PayForlt will become the de-facto standard for payments of this value as consumers are expected to increasingly use their mobile device for low value transactions.

Speaking about Tanla Mobile's appointment as an accredited payment partner, Gautam Sabharwal, Director for Tanla Mobile, said: "PayForlt will be an important turning point for the mobile industry. There has been much debate and action focused on improving mobile billing. The interest we are seeing from customers supports this; the demand for mobile services has never been greater."

PayForlt is a massive departure for the mobile industry and provide consumers with a greatly improved mobile experience. Due to the limitations of current payment technologies mCommerce has been categorised by the sales and downloads of ring-tones, pictures, logos and novelty purchases. The evolution of a single and seamless payment service will see the mCommerce marketplace grown inexorably.

PayForlt will also help digital content providers in monetising mobile search engine traffic leading to greater consumer uptake of mobile services and increased return on investment.

HDFC Securities - Tanla Solutions

HDFC has a BUY on Tanla Solutions with a target price of Rs 706

Tanla trades at 13.9x and 8.9x its FY08E and FY09E EPS of Rs 31.18 and Rs. 48.15 respectively.

The target price of Rs 706 includes Rs 646 for the core business and Rs 60 for its non-core business (Interest and Dividend incomes).