LonZim telecoms division agre

RNS Number : 2758P

LonZim PLC

13 July 2010

 



13^th July 2010

LonZim Plc

('the Company')

LonZim Plc telecoms division signs agreement with ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe

LonZim Plc, (AIM:LZM) is pleased to announce that ForgetMeNot Africa Limited ("FMNA"), the Company's 51% owned subsidiary in the telcoms sector has signed an agreement with ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe, the country's largest telecoms operator. This new partnership enables ECONET Wireless, using the unique FMNA platform, to provide pay-as-you-go two-way mobile email and online chat via standard mobile handsets to more than four million Zimbabweans, representing approximately one third of the country's population.

David Lenigas, Executive Chairman of LonZim, stated:

"We are extremely pleased with the progress FMNA is making. This is the third deployment of the FMNA unique telcoms solution in eight months following successful launches in Lesotho and Kenya.  

One year ago just over one in ten resident Zimbabweans (11.4 per cent) had accessed the Internet, according to the International Telecommunications Union. FMNA's deployment in the country means one in three people can now exchange email messages and online chat messages wherever they are, whenever they wish, and with whomever they like without the need for Internet access, expensive Smartphones, device upgrades or application downloads."

Jeremy George, Chief Operating Officer of ForgetMeNot Africa said:

"Internet access and utilisation across Africa remains very low in comparison to Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific so the market potential of FMNA's technology is significant.  Mobile phones may be the only way for the vast majority of Africans to ever access the Internet. As the mobile telecoms market in countries with limited internet access continues to grow, FMNA provides people across Africa with low-cost, pay-as-you-go and easy-to-use two-way mobile email and online chat. 

19 million Africans can now access two-way mobile email and online chat on their standard mobile phone handsets through the FMNA service."

Notes to Editors

Data sourced from the International Telecommunication Union (www.itu.int)

For further information contact:

LonZim Plc
David Lenigas	Executive Chairman	[phone]
Geoffrey White	Chief Executive Officer	[phone]
Emma Priestley	Executive Director	[phone]
David Armstrong	Group Finance Director	[phone]
WH Ireland Ltd: Nomad and Broker
James Joyce		[phone]
Pelham Bell Pottinger
Charles Vivian		[phone]
		[phone]
James MacFarlane		[phone]
		[phone]

About ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe

ECONET is the largest telecommunications company in Zimbabwe, with an overall market share of over 73% total mobile sector and a subscriber base of  over 4 million as at May 2010, the latest published figures available.

The company's network was launched in July 1998 and the holding company listed in September 1998. It is now one of the largest listed companies on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange in terms of market capitalization.

About ForgetMeNot Africa

ForgetMeNot Africa Ltd. is a "software as a service" (SaaS) company specialising in unified messaging that supports seamless interoperability between SMS, email and Instant Messaging clients for telecommunications operators.  The core product is Message Optimiser which allows telecom operators to immediately provide cost-effective comprehensive unified messaging services to all of their customers without any upgrades to the device or any need for downloading new applications onto the device. This opens up a range of previously inaccessible services to many of their customers including 2-way email and 2-way instant messaging communication capability. 

 

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