A freephone mobile voice short code (MVSC) service has been deployed across all mobile networks to offer a number of benefits to businesses, including a mobile-friendly alternative to traditional freephone numbers to further encourage two-way communication with customers.
Until now, using a mobile to call a traditional Freephone number, such as those starting with 08, meant having to pay up to 46 pence per minute for the call. Now Channel Islands-based telecommunications company, JT , has introduced the first working five digit voice short code number which is free of charge to mobile callers and works on all networks.
In 2011 Ofcom reported that 48% of mobile callers believe it is the company they are calling that is responsible for setting the charges of the call, so if the calls are free this reflects well, said JT.
Paul Bullock, head of JT Group's wholesale division, explained the importance of the launch: 'For a while now we have been looking to enter the UK market with something fresh and exciting and because of our investment into our fixed and mobile networks, we are now uniquely positioned to provide this new service to UK businesses ahead of the competition.
'With growing mobile usage MVSCs are an important innovation and we are absolutely delighted to be the first to deliver the service to banks, travel agents, insurance companies or indeed any call centre requiring a dynamic Freephone service. By extending the Freephone service to mobile users with an MVSC we are quite literally changing the way customers communicate with companies and how companies communicate with their customers. Our MVSC can be used at anytime from any location in the UK and companies can now confidently send SMS alerts to customers to provoke or maintain two way communications, which is now an effective marketing tool for businesses in a number of sectors.'
This announcement is the latest development in the JT Group's five year growth strategy and demonstrates the company's commitment to becoming the partner of choice for global telecoms innovation by making the latest technologies accessible to customers around the world. Through acquisition of ekit.com JT Group extended its global reach and now has operations as far afield as Australia and Boston. It also operates the largest Tier One telecommunications infrastructure in the Channel Islands delivering world class hosting facilities to the global finance and eGaming industries.
Talking about entering the UK mobile market, Bullock added: 'This is the first of many new products and services JT Group's wholesale division is working on along with the JT Group's Gigabit Isles initiative which is bringing the world's fastest broadband to the Channel Islands and the opening of the first CI based global telecommunications research, development and training facility.'
JT Group's wholesale division delivers a number of global services including the successful Direct Connect SMS which is an automated SMS messaging service which is used by companies based as far afield as Malaysia, New Zealand and the USA, and which in 2010 delivered 650 million messages.
