info2cell Wireless Service Provider

Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) Launches ‘Akhbar DSF’
Free Information Service For GSM Users

Live Shopfest information service is a Gulf first; keeps DSF visitors up-dated at ‘Internet-speed’ via their mobile phones.

Dubai, UAE 2 March 2000

Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), the region's annual biggest shopping event, Etisalat, the UAE’s national telecommunications provider and Info2cell.com, a leading provider of wireless information services, today announced ‘Akhbar DSF’, a free of charge GSM mobile information service for DSF visitors. The service will be available for the duration of the Festival from the 1 – 31 March 2000.

Visitors to DSF 2000 will be able to receive daily ‘real time’ news and information on the Festival via their GSM mobile phones. The service, which is exclusive to the Dubai Shopping Festival, is powered by the UAE’s national communications provider, Etisalat, and Info2cell.com, the leading provider of wireless information services for the Arab world. Info2cell.com will manage three different information services for the DSF: a public service for visitors, a service for the DSF press committee and a service for the main DSF committee to keep them informed instantly of breaking DSF news.

“The Akhbar DSF mobile information service will help DSF visitors to keep in touch with the more than 500 events taking place during the festival month of March,” said Hussain Ali Lootah, chief executive officer, DSF. “With the large influx of visitors to Dubai from the Middle East region and around the world, we expect the DSF Akhbar mobile information service to be a hit with visiting GSM mobile users.”

Every day, GSM users subscribed to the Akhbar DSF information service service will receive a variety of breaking news throughout the day starting with a ‘World Headline News’ bulletin each morning. DSF news bulletins will then be sent to Akhbar DSF subscribers as news happens, which will include news on events, bargains, 'on the minute' deals, events, prize draws, promotion winners and traffic information. Each evening subsribers will receive a ‘Gulf Headline News’ bulletin. The DSF organisers will be able to enter news directly into the information service using DSF Info-Tracker, a news management system developed by Info2cell.com especially for the DSF.

“This is another example of how private and government organisations are working together effectively to make DSF 2000 a unique experience for visitors to the Emirates,” said Ahmed Byat, Dubai Deputy Branch Manager at Etisalat. “Etisalat, DSF and Info2cell.com have worked hard to integrate their news, services and expertise to provide an information service that is the first of its kind in the Middle East region.

” Visitors and residents alike can subscribe on-line simply by following the promotional banners on mydsf.com, etisalat.com or from Info2cell.com.com to the Akbar DSF registeration page on the Internet or by calling the DSF’s Ahalan telephone information service on toll free tel: 904 0099

“Subcribing to DSF Akbhar is simple,” said Bashar Dahabra, general manager of Info2cell.com. “Any GSM user with roaming access or any Etisalat GSM service user will be able to subscribe to the information service via mydsf.com or by telephone. DSF visitors also get to experience the future of GSM, subscribing to a type of value-added service that mobile users will come to enjoy in the future.”

The service is the first of its kind to be launched in the Middle East, and is being brought to the UAE thanks to a unique initiative which has been developed together by the DSF Committee, Etisalat and Info2cell.com.com. The DSF Committee will provide news feeds with information on the festival. Info2cell.com will provide the system to capture and process both DSF newrs and world news and send it to visitors via Etisalat’s SMS messaging system for GSM. Individual GSM users will automatically receive news bulletins on a regular basis, several times per day, direct to their mobiles.

Info2cell.com.com, will use its news management system to integrate all DSF news bulletins into 160 character SMS (Short Message System) message format for transmission by Etisalat direct to mobile phone users in the UAE, whether residents or visitors with a roaming facility. Info2cell.com’s agreement with AFP and other regional and international news wires to ensure that subscribers to Akhbar DSF will receive the latest news reports available.