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Regional wireless carrier adds Jamster!® content to expand customer personalization options
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment 2005—September 28, 2005 — VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), the leading provider of intelligent infrastructure services for the Internet and telecommunications networks, today announced that Cincinnati Bell has made VeriSign’s Jamster! mobile content available for customers looking to use today’s most popular ringtones, wallpaper and games to personalize their wireless experience.
Cincinnati Bell customers can get easy access to advertised Jamster! content by entering a shortcode—a short series of easy-to-remember numbers—on their handset, to instantly purchase a ringtone, game or wallpaper. The purchase is then charged to the subscriber’s wireless phone bill.
Jamster! handles the content on-boarding, aggregation, formatting, mediation and a variety of billing and payment services for Cincinnati Bell and other carriers that offer the content.
“With Jamster! we can quickly roll out more of the offerings our customers want and have asked for – high quality, popular content that can be bought and delivered securely,” said Mike Vanderwoude, vice president and general manager of wireless for Cincinnati Bell. “This service compliments our other offerings and allows us to take advantage of Jamster!’s sizable marketing and advertising efforts.”
“Mobile content is a new revenue generator for carriers,” said Vernon Irvin, executive vice president and general manager, VeriSign Communications Services. “And, in just a short amount of time, VeriSign’s Jamster! has established itself as a strategic choice for carriers because we are a leading off-deck portal provider with a broad catalog of content, which today includes real tones from chart-topping recording artists. Cincinatti Bell is taking another bold step by offering Jamster! content to its customers and reaping the benefits of using VeriSign’s end-to-end mobile content solution.”
Frost & Sullivan estimates that by the end of 2005, the U.S. mobile downloadable content and applications market will be valued at $1.2 billion.
“Growth in carriers’ mobile content services will be tied not only to offering compelling content, but to technologies that provide a way to distribute it and manage the payments between all parts of the value chain,” said Frost & Sullivan Analyst Vikrant Gandhi. “VeriSign is taking on the content and infrastructure challenges and carriers are finding value in outsourcing its end-to-end premium mobile content solution."
Cincinnati Bell also uses VeriSign’s Service Order Administration (SOA) and Toll-Free Database Service, which enables local carriers to provide North American customers with access to 800, 888, 877 and 866 numbers for toll-free call routing.
Cincinnati Bell is the latest customer to add Jamster! content services to its portfolio. The popular content services are used by a number of major wireless carriers in the U.S.
About Jamster! and VeriSign
Jamster!, a wholly owned subsidiary of VeriSign, Inc., delivers
premier mobile content for carriers, which includes a broad catalog of off-
and on-portal applications such as ringtones, music, graphics and games.
VeriSign, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRSN), operates intelligent infrastructure services
that enable and protect interactions across voice and data networks-anytime,
from anywhere on multiple devices. Additional news and information about
the company is available at www.verisign.com.
About Cincinnati Bell Inc.
Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE: CBB) is parent to one of the nation's
most respected and best performing local exchange and wireless providers
with a legacy of unparalleled customer service excellence. With headquarters
in Cincinnati, Ohio, Cincinnati Bell provides a wide range of telecommunications
products and services to residential and business customers in Ohio,
Kentucky and Indiana. For more information, visit www.cincinnatibell.com
Trademarks
VeriSign, Jamster! and other trademarks, service marks and logos are
registered or unregistered marks of VeriSign, Inc. and its subsidiaries
in the United States and in foreign countries. Copyright © 2005 VeriSign,
Inc. All rights reserved.
Media Contacts
VeriSign Media Relations: Lori Sinsley, lsinsley@verisign.com,
650-426-4716
VeriSign Investor Relations: Tom McCallum, tmccallum@verisign.com,
650-426-3744
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this announcement other than historical data and
information constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements involve risks and
uncertainties that could cause VeriSign's actual results to differ materially
from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The
potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainty
of future revenue and profitability and potential fluctuations in quarterly
operating results due to such factors as the inability of VeriSign to
successfully develop and market new products and services and customer
acceptance of any new products or services, including VeriSign's mobile
content services; the possibility that VeriSign’s announced new services
may not result in additional customers, profits or revenues; and increased
competition and pricing pressures More information about potential factors
that could affect the company's business and financial results is included
in VeriSign's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including
in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December
31, 2004 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. VeriSign undertakes no
obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the
date of this press release.
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