StarHub launches Singapore's first MMS Mobile Paper service featuring news and current affairs from China

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Singapore, 21 December 2009 - StarHub today announced the launch of Singapore ’s first MMS Mobile Paper service featuring news and current affairs from China . This affordable subscription-based mobile value-added service (VAS) will allow China nationals living in Singapore to stay in touch with news from home, and help others interested in China to stay abreast of what is happening there. Once subscribed, the MMS Mobile Paper will simply push news and features on China to users on a regular basis, giving them up-to-date rich information at their fingertips.

“Interest in China is rapidly growing with more businesses requiring up-to-date information on the latest developments in the world’s fastest growing economy. We are excited to offer to our mobile customers a service where they can keep themselves informed of developments within the country. We also believe that this customer-friendly service will be of great use to our base of customers who are Chinese nationals, and help them stay abreast of what’s happening at home. We hope to extend this service to other publications from across the world in the coming months,” said Mr Chan Kin Hung, Head of Products and Solutions, StarHub.

Available to both post-paid and pre-paid customers, all customers need to do to receive these mobile publications is to send an SMS to 6800 with the respective subscription keyword of the publication they are interested in. For example, they can send the keyword <sxhb> to 6800 if they want to subscribe to Xin Hua Mobile News. Customers can also SMS <SJB> to 6800 to get a list of the respective publications’ keywords.

The five China publications available through this MMS Mobile Paper service are:

(1) Xin Hua Mobile News (新华手机报) [Keyword: sxhb]
Xin Hua Mobile News is from China 's official news agency providing accurate and timely reports on important political news, current affairs, finance, sports, entertainment, lifestyle and well-being, and more.

(2) Phoenix Current Affairs Commentary (凤凰时事周刊) [Keyword: sgpm]
Phoenix Current Affairs Commentary complements the Phoenix Weekly and Phoenix Chinese Television Channel to deliver the hottest current affairs topics with in-depth analysis reports to mobile phone users.

(3) Money Weekly (理财周刊) [Keyword: scjm]
Money Weekly provides financial and wealth management knowledge, tips from top experts, and offers analytical wealth management reports. Its interactive portal opens up a communication channel for readers to learn and exchange with one another, to enhance their business acumen/potential.

(4) Star Entertainment Mobile News (明星娱乐手机报) [Keyword: senw]
Star Entertainment Mobile News brings the hottest entertainment news and celebrity interviews within the entertainment industry to readers, covering areas like movies, music, beauty pageants, modelling, and more! Highlights include contents from exclusive celebrity interviews and our reader’s contributions.

(5) Youth Digest Mobile News (青年文摘手机报) [Short code: sqnw]
Youth Digest Mobile News is a guide for the young urban dweller covering lifestyle topics and valuable career tips, as well as youth-focused news.

News updates will be delivered to subscribers via MMS according to a pre-set schedule, and will feature a condensed version of the day’s top stories as well as other articles of interest. All five publications will be available for free to all StarHub subscribers until 31 March 2010. Thereafter, each publication will retail at a promotional rate of $2 monthly.  

Location-based Tracking Mobile Service – My Locator
StarHub today also announced that it has started offering My Locator, a location-based service for post-paid and pre-paid mobile customers.

Friends, colleagues and family members can locate each other in a fun and easy manner simply by sending an SMS to 6060 with the keyword <FIND> followed by that friend’s StarHub mobile number. Upon proper authorisation by the party to be found, the customer will receive a message with a location and a link to a map.

For parents concerned with the whereabouts of their young children, this service can be used to create pre-defined locations (called a ‘fence’) - such as a home, school, community centre or tuition centre - and have an SMS alert sent to the parent every time the child enters or leaves this ‘fence’. All the parent has to do to subscribe to the service is to send an SMS to 6060 with the keyword <SUB> followed by the mobile number of the child. The ‘fence’ can be set very simply by sending an SMS to 6060 with the keyword <FENCE> followed by the mobile number and the postal code of the location. Up to three different pre-defined ‘fences’ can be set for each mobile number to be located.  

Standard SMS charges apply for each FIND request, and the subscription fee for the mobile FENCE feature is $3 per month for one StarHub mobile number with up to three ‘fences’.

Other terms and conditions may apply for the MMS Mobile Paper or My Locator service. Please go to www.starhub.com/mobile for more information.