Vodaphone to use RealNetworks media content

Vodaphone and RealNetworks announced a relationship to enable audio and video on selected mobile phones across Vodafone's territories.

RealNetworks has been selected by Vodafone to provide mobile media delivery solutions technology to power audio and video services for Vodafone live!

“The relationship between RealNetworks and Vodafone is a major step forward in making mobile media a mainstream reality,” said Rob Glaser, Chairman and CEO, RealNetworks, Inc. “We are very excited about working with Vodafone to enable content providers to offer content to consumers, and for consumers to access the media they want, when and where they want it.”

Thomas Geitner, Chief Executive, Global Products and Services, Vodafone, said “This agreement with RealNetworks for global video streaming technology, through Siemens’ global systems integrator, gives Vodafone yet another opportunity to enhance the mobile experience of our Vodafone live! customers by delivering video and audio content. We are optimistic about the quality of RealNetworks’ services and will be deploying them in a number of markets.”

Vodafone has equity interests in 28 countries and Partner Networks in a further 8 countries, serving over 112 million proportionate customers. At the end of April 2003, six months after the launch of live!, Vodafone had connected over a million Vodafone live! customers.

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