ACL Wireless unveils the potential of Wireless Instant Messaging over GPRS
September 17, 2002

New Delhi, September 17, 2002: ACL Wireless, the leader in Wireless Instant messaging applications in Asia, unleashed the potential of Wireless Instant Messaging (WIM) over GPRS, in a presentation at the recently concluded 3GSM ASIA PACIFIC 2002 CONGRESS - EXPO at Singapore. Nominees of Mobile operators from across the world visited the event. A large number of visitors and attendees to the congress were network manufacturers like Lucent, Alcatel, Huawai, LG, NEC.

Mr. Sanjay K Goyal, CEO, ACL Wireless unveiled the potential of the "killer application" over a presentation in the "Global Messaging and Entertainment - exploiting their full market potential". ACL was exhibiting messaging application targeted towards the mobile subscribers.

ACL WIM's demonstration was given to various mobile operators like MAXIS (Malaysia), Grameen Phone (Bangladesh), Satelindo (Indonesia), M1 (Singapore), Singtel (Singapore), BPL (Mumbai, India), Buztel GSM (Uzbekistan). Each one showed active interest in the killer application and believed that the application can increase their Average Revenue per User (ARPU).

Mr. Goyal highlighted the immense possibilities of Wireless Instant messaging and touched upon the possibilities of skyrocketing growth. The surmise, he said, is based on the experience with the growth trends of SMS across the world. The consumer adoption of text messaging has opened up the vistas for more value added services on the mobile phones. Added to this is the popularity of desktop instant messaging devices and the consumer preference for presence based messaging. WIM is the bridge between desktop IM and SMS and is the messaging application of the future over GRPS.

"With over 30 billion SMS per month and over 200 million registered IM users, the immense possibilities of WIM as the next "killer application" cannot be negated. WIM has the potential of generating revenue worth US $ 9.2 billion by 2006", Mr. Goyal added.

WIM is an application that leverages on the existing and future network resources, like SMS, WAP over GRPS, Location and MMS, to generate higher revenues for the operator. It enables operators to interconnect with other mobile operators and offers an opportunity.

ACL WIM has already been deployed over 8 mobile networks in Thailand, Indonesia and India. By the end of the year, the application is likely to be available to at least one mobile network each in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Taiwan. It is estimated that by the end of 2002, it will be available to over 20 million subscribers in APAC region and become the most popular SMS VAS.

ACL WIM is also futuristic in its outlook and incorporates new wireless technologies like Location and MMS. The interoperability with other mobile operators and Internet IM providers and the partnering of the Wireless Village is a major plus for the WIM. Promotion of menu driven systems like STK (SIM tool kit), WIB (Wireless Internet Browser), WAP over GPRS, J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition), can also have a big hand in the mega success of WIM.

Telecom network manufacturers like Alcatel and Lucent also showed interest in ACL WIM, as they believed that such applications are the drivers of growth on future networks and would essentially help the operators to justify their investments in GPRS/3G networks.

Smarttrust showed interest in embedding ACL WIM on to their WIB (Wireless Internet Browser) as a default application. Currently Smarttrust has or is in the process of deploying their WIB on to the networks of 80 operators worldwide.

Overall the event was a launching pad for making ACL's presence felt in the International market, after its clean sweep amongst the Indian mobile operators.

About ACL Wireless

ACL Wireless Limited is the leading provider of a unique, consumer-centric, wireless instant messaging application to mobile operators across Asia. Founded in early 2000, ACL operates from its wireless research and development centre in India with its Asia Pacific sales office in Malaysia. The company presently employs over 60 people. ACL has successfully marketed its flagship product ACL Wireless Instant Messenger (WIM) to 10 leading mobile operators in Asia, whose combined subscriber base exceeds 15 million. Several other leading operators, with over twenty million subscribers, have evaluated ACL WIM successfully and are considering service offer to their subscribers.

ACL WIM enables mobile users to chat in real time with friends on PCs or mobile phones, anywhere in the world. Users can exchange instant text, voice, photos & group messages. Furthermore, users can search for new friends and view their pictures, group chat and even chat with their yahoo, msn & icq buddies. ACL WIM can be accessed by users via multiple clients, which include, SMS commands, SIM menu, SIM Micro Browser, WAP browser, J2ME phones, SmartPhones and PCs.