Europolitan Vodafone launches Sweden's first voice portal

Stay in touch with events - just dial 825 Europolitan Vodafone launches Sweden's first voice portal Europolitan Vodafone is the first mobile operator in Sweden to launch a voice portal on the Internet. By simply dialling 825, customers can use their voices and mobile phones to surf to the latest weather forecasts, share prices, sport and financial updates. The voice portal can be reached from any type of mobile phone with a Europolitan Vodafone subscription. It enables customers to keep in touch with events by using a series of voice controlled services from an Internet portal. It will also be possible to tailor these services in accordance with users' wishes, providing them with quick access the information they require. To reach the voice portal, customers dial short number 825 and then use their voice to navigate through the range of services on offer - not unlike surfing the Internet. The requested information is then read out by a synthetic voice or presented to the surfer as a recorded message, for example financial and news updates from TT newswire. "Voice is an ideal way of controlling services, and our voice portal combines the Internet with the natural voice capability of the mobile phone. This provides customers with more freedom to access the information they want when they want it, while navigating though the range of services using just their voice," says Mikael Kluge, Director of Europolitan's Mobile Internet business area. Once you have dialled 825 and entered the portal, you arrive at the main menu where all the available services in the voice portal are presented. They are organised into groups to make it easier for users to find their way around. The Financial News group, for instance, is broken down into Share Prices, Financial News Flashes and Finance Updates. If you already know which service you want, such as Share Prices, just say 'Share Prices' straight away and you will reach the information immediately. Those who have personalised the service can subsequently ask about a specific share directly. Users can also keep surfing around the voice portal by saying the name of another service or 'Main Menu' at any time, and navigate by using the keys on their mobile phones. "Using your voice is a simple and natural way of controlling information. We are facing a future in which increasingly complex and interactive services will be operated by voice control. This could cover anything from recording e-mail messages to obtaining directions from your voice portal about the quickest way to your destination when on the move," says Kluge. Reaching Europolitan Vodafone's voice portal via short number 825 requires the customer to use a mobile phone with a Europolitan Vodafone subscription. The portal is available for all types of subscriptions within the company, including EASY telephony card.* Surfing the voice portal costs SEK 3.00 per minute and the price is the same regardless of the time of day. The groups and services that are available from today are: Group Service Weather Weather in Sweden Travel weather Golf weather Finance Financial bulletins from TT newswire Financial news flashes Share prices Sport Sport updates Results News News bulletins from TT newswire News updates Entertainment Wine tip of the week Quote of the day * With an EASY card you can use the basic range of services, i.e. all the services that are active initially. You cannot, however, personalise these services. For more information, please contact Mikael Kluge, Director Mobile Internet, Europolitan Vodafone, tel: +46 708 33 12 05, e-mail: mikael.kluge@europolitan.se Johan Holmgren, Director Public Relations, Europolitan Vodafone tel: +46 708 33 14 00, e-mail: johan.holmgren@europolitan.se Europolitan Vodafone is a mobile operator with a licence to build a 3G mobile telecoms network. Our strength lies in our focus on developing international services, customer service and quality. Europolitan Vodafone employs some 1,400 people. Europolitan Vodafone is listed on the O-list of the OM Stock Exchange's Attract 40 list through Europolitan Holdings AB. The company's principal owner is Vodafone, with 71 per cent of Europolitan Holdings. The remaining 29 per cent is owned by private shareholders, investment companies and pension funds. The Vodafone group is represented on 5 continents and has around 80 million customers (proportionate customers). For more information, please visit www.europolitan.se and www.vodafone.com. ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/03/29/20010329BIT00200/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/03/29/20010329BIT00200/bit0001.pdf