pioneering Voice SMS technology from Kirusa, a world leading vendor of Voice SMS and a leading developer of mobile value added services. MTN Voice SMS offering in Uganda is bolstered by additional innovative features like Scheduling and Dynamic Group Voice SMS.

Voice SMS allows the subscribers to send messages by voice, eliminating the need to type. It enables the subscribers to communicate faster, easier, and with added personal touch by conveying emotions, to their friends, relatives and colleagues. The Voice SMS service has achieved a vast acceptance across the globe for its benefits in surpassing the limitations of text messages.

MTN subscribers need to dial '*' followed by the number of the person they wish to send the message to, and speak a short message for up to 30 seconds in any language. A recipient on MTN network gets a notification message from the sender and can click on a DirectListen™ number for direct access and reply to the Voice SMS left for him. He can also dial *0* to hear new voice messages, or retrieve previously listened voice messages by dialing *1*. Voice SMS messages can be replied to, forwarded, saved, or deleted.

MTN subscribers pay a price as low as of UGX.90 (approximately US$0.04) for sending a Voice SMS. MTN plans to shortly offer several enhanced Voice SMS services for its enterprise customers.

Commenting on the launch, Isaac Nsereko, Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Uganda, said: "We are excited by the successful launch of Voice SMS for our customers, who are finding that Voice SMS adds value to their traditional ways of messaging. Kirusa was chosen to provide the Voice SMS service for their technical and marketing superiority, and focused approach towards the implementation." He further added, "The attitude, fortitude and attention to the details by the project management team were commendable. The implementation was excellent, reflecting the thorough preparation prior to deployment."

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Inderpal Singh Mumick, CEO and Founder of Kirusa, said, "We congratulate MTN Uganda to be the first MTN operator to have launched Voice SMS in East Africa." He further added, "The emerging multilingual markets have accepted Voice SMS wholeheartedly and we hope to replicate this success in Uganda."

About MTN Group

Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a multinational telecommunications group, operating in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.  As at 31 December 2008, MTN recorded 90,7 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia. The MTN Group is a global sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ and has exclusive mobile content rights for Africa and the Middle East. 

About Kirusa

Kirusa is a world leading vendor of Voice SMS and a leading developer of mobile value added services. Kirusa's solutions include the hugely successful KV.SMS™, the world's most advanced "Voice SMS" solution that has been selected by more than thirty carriers around the world. Kirusa Voice SMS enables mobile subscribers to send messages by speaking. Kirusa's solution works on all handsets and on all networks, and offers the industry's most intuitive user interface, with features such as DirectListen™ for direct access and reply to messages, Speed Codes™ for quickly sending messages, group messaging, mobile number portability, background music, interconnection, international Voice SMS. KV.SMS can be deployed in a matter of weeks, and its rapid user adoption has led to explosive revenue growth for Kirusa's customers. Kirusa offers an exchange service for interconnection of Voice SMS messages between carriers, and is pioneering a suite of applications that touch mobile users through voice.

Kirusa has partnered with Qualcomm to deliver a Brew client for sending and receiving Voice SMS messages. Kirusa solutions are built on Kirusa's patented and patent pending technology and its highly reliable and scalable multimodal platform. The platform enables carriers to cost effectively deploy additional revenue generating applications such as messaging, search, information, and entertainment. Headquartered in New Jersey and led by an experienced team of wireless telecom executives and technologists, Kirusa has sales offices in three continents, with research and development facilities in New Delhi and in Bangalore, India. 'Kirusa Voice SMS,' 'DirectListen™' and 'Speed Codes' are trademarks of Kirusa, Inc.

Information Source:    Marketwire