Vodafone & Orange to share UK cellphone mast sites

It’s not quite as exciting as collaborating on space cellphones, but Vodafone and Orange’s deal to share mobile phone mast sites in the UK will probably have more day-to-day impact on users than NASA’s venture. The two companies will still maintain separate networks and even use separate equipment, only they will both site it at the same mast rather than use different locations as has been the arrangement up until now. According to Vodafone, the deal will lead to up to a 15-percent reduction in mast sites within the first two years, around 3,000 in total.

The arrangement echoes a similar, but more in-depth collaboration between T-Mobile UK and 3 UK back in December 2007, where the two carriers agreed to combine their 3G access points so as to improve network coverage for both companies. Vodafone and Orange, however, will remain independently responsible for the quality and maintenance of their own networks and equipment.

Orange Walkman exclusives

Orange will have several Sony Ericsson Walkman exclusive colour variants for October, as part of a partnership between the two companies for new music TV show mobileAct Unsigned.

Orange said: 'Three new Sony Ericsson Walkman handsets, the W660i, the W910i and the W580i, will be available from Orange in October. We have the W910i exclusively in red and the W580i exclusively in pink, both for a minimum of three months.'

Orange also has the pink W200 exclusively from October.

MobileAct Unsigned will be on Channel 4's T4 and 4music slots and aims to unearth real music talent. The show will allow users to download tracks from competing bands and vote for the ones they want to progress through the competition. The UK winners will be signed to a record contract with a major record label.

The campaign will use content across TV, online and mobile.Orange has sold over two million Sony Ericsson Walkman handsets featuring the Orange full-track music download service, Orange Music Store, in just over 12 months.

The Sony Ericsson Walkman handsets are part of Orange's successful Signature Series, which gives customers one-click access to the Orange Music Store. Sony Ericsson's W850, W810 and W880 have continually been the top three performing Orange UK music phones in terms of download numbers, and across the group, Walkman handset users consume 50% more music than average phone users. Orange expects to exceed three million Walkman music device sales internationally by the end of 2007.

Orange and Sony Ericsson began an integrated marketing partnership in March 2006 with a joint nine-month European sponsorship deal with singer Christina Aguilera.

© Copyright 2007 : Noble House Media Ltd

Orange first for Sony Ericsson Walkman Phones

Orange customers in the UK can get their hands on Sony Ericsson's much-anticipated Walkman W910i phone first, thanks to a talent show tie-up between the companies.

Sony Ericsson is providing a trio of Walkman mobile models to Orange first as part of its partnership deal. The W660i, W580i and W910i will all debut first on Orange - the 3G HSDPA-enabled W910i sliderphone being the highlight of the line-up. The phones will feature links to the Orange Music Store, offering over the air full track downloads.

Sony Ericsson and Orange have teamed up to launch a search-for-band talent show for Channel 4 - mobileAct Unsigned - to be shown on T4 and 4music. The sponsorship deal, first reported by Tech.co.uk earlier this month, will give users a chance to vote for the best unsigned bands with interactive mobile internet and websites offering track downloads, info and voting options.

In time-honoured reality TV fashion there's a record contract with a major label awaiting the winners.

tech.co.uk

Sony Ericsson and Orange search for new music talent

Sony Ericsson and Orange are sponsoring a competition to find new music talent in the UK. MobileAct Unsigned will air on Channel 4 and will allow viewers to download tracks and vote for their favourite bands.

The show, which will launch in October, will appear on Channel 4's T4 and 4Music strands and will be presented by Alex Zane. The search for the brand will be led by a panel of "credible" musicians and music mentors, which has yet to be revealed.

The competition aims to find young bands that write and create their own music. There will be 50 bands in the finals, 25 chosen by the public and 25 by the expert panel. The winning band will receive a record deal with a major record label.

The sponsorship is part of Orange and Sony Ericsson's ongoing music partnership, which launched last year to promote the Walkman handsets and the mobile operator's download service, Orange Music Store.

The campaign will use content from the show across TV, online and mobile and will promote three new Sony Ericsson Walkman phones, the W660i, the W910i and the W580i. The show will be filmed using two cameras, one for TV and one for creating mobile and online content.

Sony Ericsson and Orange help in the search for New Music

Mobile phone network Orange and mobile phone manufacturer Sony Ericsson team up to find the best in unsigned talent in the UK

Most popular mobile phones now come equipped with inbuilt mp3 players, showing that listening to your favorite music on your mobile phone is a very popular pastime. But are you fed up with the bands that are around at the moment? Would you like to listen to something exciting and new? If so Sony Ericsson and Orange could be here to help.

Sony Ericsson and Orange are joining forces with Channel 4 to unearth Britain’s freshest unsigned bands. They seem to be following in Nokia’s foot steps who have sponsored the X Factor in the past.

Sony Ericsson and Orange will be bringing their mobile music expertise to make the musical search a digital showcase, giving viewers, the acts and the music industry the chance to interact via mobile, WAP and online.

The 12 week TV series will kick off on Channel 4 with a unique mobileAct unsigned music festival and UK tour. This will showcase 50 chosen bands who will perform to raise support from fans and hopefully impress the yet to be announced panel of well known artists and industry expert judges. Throughout the series the bands will receive master classes and guidance from their idols.

If you think you have what it takes you can enter by uploading your own material to http://www.mobileact.co.uk/ before the 5th August. If you prefer to listen to music rather than create it, make sure you have your mobile phone to hand to keep up to date with all the new music!

Sony Ericsson and Orange celebrate festival season

And so can you with free festival music
by Amy-Mae Elliott



Sony Ericsson and Orange have announced their new, joint 'Best of Festivals' promotion which runs until June 30 2007.

To celebrate the start of the festival season, Orange customers will be able to purchase the exclusive W610i silver Walkman phone or the exclusive W200i Walkman phone and get 15 Best of Festival tracks for absolutely nought.

Subscribers will be able to download tracks from festival favourites like "Bones" from The Killers and "In The Morning" from Razorlight, for free, via the Orange Music Store.

In addition, Sony Ericsson and Orange will be hosting a private gig in July, which will be headlined by Best of Festival bands. 100 pairs of tickets to this exclusive gig will be given away to subscribers, through a free prize draw…

Nokia Siemens and Orange to provide Blyk mobile phone network

Nokia Siemens Networks to build and host core network, Orange to provide signal for advertising-funded virtual mobile operator launching in the UK later this year.

Nokia Siemens Networks has agreed a deal to host the full core network of innovative virtual mobile phone operator Blyk.
The company, formed from the merged networking businesses of Nokia and Siemens will supply, build and host Blyk's core network as it offers free, advertiser-funded mobile telephony service.
"In its first-ever full mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) hosting arrangement, Nokia Siemens Networks will be hosting the entire operation of Blyk's core network," the networks joint venture said in a statement. Nokia Siemens Networks has set its sights on growing its managed services and hosting operations, where it maintains and administers networks on behalf of other operators.
Blyk provides free calls and text messaging to 16-24 year-old subscribers funded by mobile advertisements delivered directly to their phones. Blyk will initially offer its mobile services in the UK, before expanding to other European countries. Blyk is scheduled to start operations in the UK in mid-2007 and will use the Orange mobile phone network for its delivery infrastructure.
"Orange became the first operator to launch advertising on the mobile last year and feedback from our customers has been overwhelmingly positive. That makes Blyk's approach even more exciting and we shall be watching their progress with interest" said Keith Greenfield, director of wholesale for Orange UK.MVNO services are proving popular in the UK, with Virgin Mobile, Tesco Mobile and Fresh Mobile already established. Asda is expected to enter the market this year while easyMobile, a joint venture between easyGroup and TDC failed last year.
No financial details relating to the Blyk deal have been announced.