In a crowded marketplace differentiation is vital. Being first to market with a unique service is the surest way to gain market share – and of course grow revenue.

That’s why StarHub, Singapore’s second largest operator, was so attracted to Alcatel’s winning formula of music combined with personalization, shopping and mobility. And StarHub is leading the way as the first operator to deploy Alcatel's end-to-end mobile music solution.

Let’s hear from Terry Paleologos, V.P. Mobile, StarHub and Phil Taylor, Director, Wireless Internet Applications, Strategy Analytics:

Terry Paleologos	Terry Paleologos	Phil Taylor

Adding to the Entertainment Value
Mobile music is already an exciting experience but StarHub wanted even more for their customers. Interactive and personalized, Alcatel’s mobile music solution enables a richer user experience. Subscribers can listen, watch and download music on their mobile phones anytime, anywhere. But that’s not all. They can also cruise through predefined playlists or create personalized playlists. And then there’s the fun of shopping for wallpapers, ring tones, ring back tones, songs and music video clips. The Alcatel mobile music solution delivers a complete mobile music experience, going far beyond what you get from MP3 players.

The Discovery Process
Consumers love to discover things on their mobile devices, like new features and new content. Part of what makes Alcatel’s solution unique is that it encourages the discovery process. Users can search through different playlists, different genres, so they're not just buying a “frozen” product. The more they interact with the application the more they discover new things.

Boost 2.5G and 3G Revenue
Alcatel's Mobile Interactive Music Solution is designed to work seamlessly on different networks: GPRS/EDGE with WAP, and 3G with a rich media client providing for an enhanced end-user experience.

Performance and quality enhance user experience
Alcatel's Mobile Interactive Music Solution is powered by the industry-leading streaming server technology designed and developed by PacketVideo Network Solutions (pvNS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Alcatel. The pvNS technology provides an enhanced end-user experience. Alcatel's server provides a server-side playlist that enables users to combine streams from multiple sources in a single session and deliver it to their preferred device for uninterrupted music enjoyment. Moreover, the server-side playlist functionality reduces the time needed to switch to a new clip. Benefiting operators, Alcatel's server-side playlist provides the ability to insert adverts at various points in the playlist session, thus offering the possibility to generate additional revenues.

Meanwhile, support for the AAC+ audio codec enables customers to enjoy music with superior audio quality, even at lower bit rates. Boosting device compatibility, Alcatel's solution complies with 3GPP standard specifications, and thus delivers music and video content to 3GPP devices, offering end-users a wider choice of devices for experiencing the music and video service.

With features like these, it is no wonder that Alcatel's music and video solutions have already been adopted by more than 80 mobile operators in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America to enable their mobile video, music and live TV services.