The Board expects pre-tax cost savings of at least Euro500,000 per annum will be generated once the full benefits of the Acquisition are realised. These benefits will be off-set in year one by certain integration costs of combining the two businesses.

The maximum total consideration payable of Euro24.4 million consists of two elements: Euro17.2 million payable at completion and up to Euro7.2 million additional consideration based on Red Circle's EBITDA for the three months ending on 31 December 2007. If the maximum additional consideration of Euro7.2million is paid, Red Circle will have generated EBITDA of at least Euro3.9 million in the year ending 31 December 2007.

The initial consideration and the additional consideration will be split 75% cash and 25% in zamano shares.

The cash element of the consideration will be funded by a new loan facility with Bank of Scotland (Ireland).

The maximum number of Consideration Shares to be issued pursuant to the
Acquisition is 16,944,444 shares, representing approximately 20 per cent. of the equity of the Enlarged Group. The final number of Consideration Shares to be issued will be calculated based on a share price of 36 cents per share(which represents a premium of approximately 9.1 per cent. to the closing share price on 23 November 2007), or, if higher, the average closing share price during the five days prior to the EGM. On Completion, the Vendors will enter into an agreement not to dispose of any of their consideration shares for 12 months.

The Board believes that the acquisition will immediately enhance earnings per share of the Group (before the amortisation of intangible assets).

The Enlarged Group will be managed by the existing zamano Board, Rod
Matthews (Non Executive Chairman), John O'Shea (Managing Director) and Colm Saunders (Finance Director), supported by its Non Executive Directors, Brendan Mullin, Colin Tucker and John Michael Watson.

As a result of the size of Red Circle relative to zamano, the Acquisition
constitutes a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules for Companies and the IEX Rules for Companies and is conditional, inter alia, on the approval of Shareholders at the EGM which has been convened for 11.00 a.m. on 12 December 2007.

If the Acquisition is approved, the admission of the Existing Ordinary Shares to trading on AIM and IEX will be cancelled and the Company will apply for its enlarged share capital to be re-admitted to trading on AIM and IEX, with admission expected to occur on 13 December 2007.


The Board of zamano, who have been advised on the Acquisition by NCB Corporate Finance, believe that the Acquisition is in the best interests of the Company and its Shareholders and unanimously recommend that all Shareholders vote in favour of the Acquisition, as they intend to do in respect of their own beneficial holdings of Ordinary Shares.


John O'Shea, Managing Director of zamano, said:

'This is a transformational deal for zamano and brings together two successful mobile technology companies, creating an enlarged company which will operate on a global level.

The Acquisition more than doubles zamano's revenue on a pro-forma basis.

Red Circle is zamano's fifth acquisition overall and the second in 2007; the Directors are confident that this will be another successful transaction. The Company will continue to seek further organic and inorganic opportunities for growth in line with the strategy.

I am delighted to welcome the Red Circle team, led by Cathal Fay, to the Group and look forward to working with them to ensure the continuation of their strong track record of growth and innovation.'


Rod Matthews, Chairman of zamano, added:

'zamano's business continues to perform very strongly and, as I stated at the time of our interim results announcement in September, the Board continue to be very comfortable with market expectations for the full-year to 31 December 2007.'


The Admission Document containing a notice convening an Extraordinary General Meeting to be held at the Conrad Dublin Hotel, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland at 11.00 a.m. on 12 December 2007 is being sent to shareholders today.

The Fast 50 program, now in its eighth year in Ireland ranks the fastest-growing technology companies in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. This year, there were 15 companies from Northern Ireland in the ranking. The average annual growth rate of the winning companies was 497%.

The awards took place in the Mansion House, Dublin.  Industry figures speaking at the event included Joe Macri, MD, Microsoft Ireland, Barry Maloney, Partner, Balderton Capital and Paul Lee, Director, Deloitte Research, Deloitte UK. 

Details of the final Technology Fast 50 ranking list are available to download at: http://www.fast50.ie

Mr. Saunders, 35, a chartered accountant who trained with KPMG, has extensive experience of corporate finance, transaction management, integration and operational experience in the USA, UK and Ireland. Colm is joining zamano from Avaya's IP Telephony Business Unit in Boston, where he was Director of Operations and Strategy. He was previously US General Manager of Spectel, an Irish voice and web conferencing company which was acquired by Avaya in 2004. Colm has also worked in corporate finance with NCB in Dublin and CCF Charterhouse in London.

Commenting on the appointment, zamano's Managing Director John O'Shea stated: 'Colm will further strengthen zamano's management team at a time of continued strong growth in the core business, and will lead our ongoing search for acquisition targets. His integration experience will prove very valuable as zamano seeks to maximise the benefits from consolidation within our industry',

Zamano Plc

182,000 Ordinary Shares of &euro 0.001

Copies of these documents are available free of charge from the Company's
website at www.zamano.com.

Mr. O Tighearnaigh, a 38 year-old Chartered Accountant, trained with PWC in Dublin. He has extensive experience in corporate finance and operational
financial management.

He was previously employed by private equity firm Allen McGuire, where he worked on a number of transactions. The largest of these was the acquisition in July 2000 of Adare Group - a print, packaging and mailing group of companies with sales of over €200m. Adare was quoted on the Dublin and London stock markets at the time.

Mr O Tighearnaigh subsequently joined founder and Chief Executive, Nelson Loane, on the Board of Adare, when he was appointed Group Finance Director. The management team achieved margins significantly and consistently ahead of industry averages, and generated substantial returns for investors when it was disposed of last year for more than €150m.

Cormac O Tighernaigh holds no current directorships or partnerships and has held the following directorships and partnerships in the previous five years;

Current                    Past

                                NAPG Limited
                                CAHL Limited
                                Great Northern Envelope Company Limited
                                Alexander Pettigew Limited
                                Adare Precissicion Limited
                                On Demand Communications Limited
                                Adare Intellidata Limited
                                William Caple and Company Limited
                                Printronic Limited
                                Prontaprint Group Limited
                                Business Barter Limited
                                Continuous Stationery Limited
                                Fairfield Graphics Limited
                                Forms Factory Limited
                                Word Processor Stationery Limited
                                Kall Kwik UK Limited
                                Prontaprint Limited
                                Centre 634 Limited
                                The Franchise Option Limited
                                Prontaprint Communications Limited
                                Prontaprint Exploration Limited
                                Citico Print Centres Limited
                                Centre 1566 Limited
                                Prontaprint North East Limited
                                Adare Direct Mail Limited
                                Prontaprint International Limited
                                Kall Kwik Europa Limited
                                Adare Carwin Limited
                                Prontaprint Retail Limited
                                Prontaprint Services Limited
                                Darley Limited
                                Adare Mailing Solutions Limited
                                Fudge Kitchen (UK) Limited
                                Adare Label Converters Limited
                                Adare Packaging Solutions Limited
                                Adare Print Management Solutions Limited
                                Kenley Press Limited
                                Fudge Kitchen (Darlington) Limited
                                Adare Lexicon Limited
                                Kalmazoo Security Print Limited
                                Adare Limited
                                Adare Business Communications Limited
                                Adare Label Solutions Limited
                                Adare Print Management Limited
                                Adare Speciality Print Limited
                                Adare Properties (UK) Limited
                                Adare Printing Group Ltd.
                                CJ Fallon Limited.
                                Korah  Limited
                                Perigord Limited
                                CJ Fallon Holdings Limited
                                Presswell Limited
                                Presswell Group Limited
                                School & College Publishing Limited
                                Esoum Limited
                                Esoum Holdings Limited
                                Flexible Packaging Limited
                                Screen Print Limited
                                Prontaprint BV

John O'Shea, Managing Director of zamano, commented:

'It is testament to zamano's ambition that a candidate of Cormac's calibre, experience and energy has decided to join this high-growth company. In the past year zamano has expanded our management team, and combining the acquisition of Eirborne and the appointment of Cormac now puts the company in a very strong position to realise our growth plans. On behalf of the Board, I'm delighted to welcome Cormac'

There are no other matters required to be disclosed pursuant to paragraph (g) of schedule 2 of the AIM Rules and the IEX Rules.

zamano has acquired the entire issued share capital of Eirborne for an initial consideration of €1.7m consisting of an initial cash payment of €1.2m and the issue of 1,136,364 shares in the Company issued at 29.9p / 44c per share. Additional deferred consideration will be paid, based primarily upon a maximum multiple of five times the EBITDA achieved by the business in the 12 months to 31 May 2008, less the initial consideration paid. The total consideration for the purposes of the AIM rules has been capped at €8.5m.

Eirborne’s audited accounts to 31 December 2006 recorded an EBITDA adjusted for one off Director payments of €0.5m on turnover of €2.87 million. As at 31 December 2006, Eirborne had audited total net assets of €0.43m. In the last 6 months of 2006, the business has grown rapidly and it expected to generate an EBITDA significantly in excess of this in 2007.

Eirborne will benefit from being part of zamano’s enlarged network, and as a result, the acquisition is expected to be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership.

Eirborne Text Promotions Ltd was established in 2002 by Gerard O’Keeffe and Paul Coyle, two experienced telecommunications executives, each with over 15 years’ relevant industry experience. The vendors will remain with the business for a minimum of 12 months.

Eirborne has developed a range of mobile entertainment services, including music, video, comedy and game content, which it provides to its 100,000 + subscriber base on www.veronicasmoco.com. Eirborne also provides text and picture messaging services for online communities. The company’s market focus is aligned with zamano’s, with presences in the UK, Ireland and Australia.

Eirborne has been an existing customer of zamano’s for nearly three years. Significant synergies have been identified and are a key element in the business plan and the realisation of the deferred consideration payments

Rod Matthews, Chairman of zamano commented:

“A key element in zamano’s strategy has been to take advantage of consolidation opportunities within the mobile space. Eirborne will be an excellent addition to zamano, both through top and bottom line improvements, as well as delivering on our stated ambition to enter the web-space with an emphasis on building continuity between the fixed line internet and mobile internet. Eirborne’s brands have demonstrated substantial user growth in the last six months and are firmly established amongst the target youth demographics in the UK, Irish and Australian markets. They are thus highly complimentary to the existing zamano brands”

John O’Shea, zamano’s Managing Director, added:

“The acquisition of Eirborne is zamano’s first deal, post listing on AIM and IEX, and will provide zamano with an enhanced web presence and brand propositions which are aligned to our target users in our core geographic markets. The acquisition also marks an important milestone in our strategic development and we will continue to focus on driving growth and investor value through further strategic acquisitions, investment in new technologies and expansion into new territories”.

Gerard O’Keeffe, Director of Eirborne, commented:

“We are delighted with this opportunity to extend the reach of our mobile entertainment services via the zamano network. We have worked with the zamano team for a number of years now and we are confident that the two businesses together will create market leading offerings for the mobile community.”

The Company will make application for the admission of the 1,136,364 consideration shares to be issued to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange (“AIM”) and the IEX Market of the Irish Stock Exchange (“IEX”). Admission of the consideration shares to AIM and the IEX is expected to take place on 26th April 2007.

The Media Momentum awards honour each year the fastest growing media companies in the UK and celebrate the achievements of those companies that are shaping the UK’s media industry. zamano’ s overall performance at the awards reflect the exceptional average growth rate of 577% between the fiscal years 2003 to 2005.

The awards were selected by a high profile judging panel from a list published by GP Bullhound, Barclays, Olswang and its partners, who are committed to the UK Media Industry. To qualify for the annual Media Momentum awards companies must be headquartered in UK and Ireland and must at least have a yearly turnover of £500,000 in 2005. All companies will then be ranked by their annual revenue growth rate between the corresponding financial years

http://www.mediamomentum.co.uk/

                              2006               2005               % change
                              € '000              € '000   

Turnover               13,357            9,694              +38%
EBITDA *               2,498              1,631              +53%
Profit before tax    2,241              1,307              +71%
Profit after tax       1,997              1,276              +57%

Earning per share
- Basic                      3.8c               2.6c               +46%
- diluted                   3.5c               2.4c               +46%

* Before charge of €55,747 (2005: €26,686) relating to options costs

Highlights

• zamano performed strongly in 2006 to deliver its 4th successive year of significant growth
• Profit after tax increased by 57% to €1,997m reflecting efficiency improvements and traffic growth following investment in zamano's platform and application suite
• Revenues increased by 38% with EBITDA up by 53% while EPS of 3.8c was up 46%
• Industry leading profit margins

Download the full press release including financial details

zamano listed on AIM (AIM: ZMNO), on 31 October 2006. It is a market leader in mobile content in Ireland, has a strong presence in the United Kingdom and commenced operations in Australia in early 2006. It distributes its services directly to consumers (B2C) and also facilitates commerce between businesses, brands and their end users (B2B). B2B business accounts for approximately 65% of overall revenue with 35% of revenues generated by mobile content and interactive services in the B2C business. According to Juniper Research the market for mobile content is valued at US$11bn and is predicted to grow to US$50bn by 2011.

John O'Shea, Managing Director, said: "The support we have received to date from UK and Irish equity investors is a solid statement of confidence in zamano and our position in the rapidly expanding mobile content market. We will continue to focus on further strategic acquisitions, increasing investment in new technologies and expansion into new territories to drive growth and reward investor confidence."

Zamano will release results for the full year to 31 December 2006 on 26 March 2007. In 2006, zamano was ranked fifth in the Deloitte technology Fast 50.

Highlights include:

• Continued positive trading with strong profitability and cash generation
• Satisfactory progress on strategic initiatives 
• Cash of not less than €7.4m in bank at 31 December 2006
• Plans for a supplementary listing on the Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) of the Irish Stock Exchange

The Board has decided to take a supplementary listing on the Irish Enterprise Exchange (IEX) of the Irish Stock Exchange which will further broaden the shareholder base and enhance liquidity. NCB have been appointed as advisers in this regard and trading on IEX should commence by 26 February 2007.

The Company also announces that Seán Mac Réamoinn, Executive Director, has resigned from the Board of the Company with immediate effect. After seven years with the company Sean has decided to move on to other challenges. The Board have agreed to further enhance the executive team through the recruitment of a Finance Director and have commenced the search process.

Rod Matthews, Non-Executive Chairman said today:

“Our listing on AIM and the successful conclusion of the years trading to 31 December 2006 have created the base for continued growth in 2007.  Our good trading performance has been driven by progress across all areas of our operations.  The intended recruitment of a finance director and the supplementary listing on IEX all underpin shareholder value in zamano, and we look forward to 2007 with confidence.    

“Seán Mac Réamoinn has played a significant role in the development of zamano since its formation and while he is stepping down from the Board, we are fortunate that Seán will remain in the business supporting the Board and management until such time as the Finance Director is appointed. On behalf of the Board, I thank Seán for his contribution and wish him well in the future.” 

The Group will release results for the full year to 31 December 2006 on 26 March 2007.

zamano, a leading provider of mobile data services, today announces the commencement of dealings of its Ordinary Shares on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. Seymour Pierce is acting as Nominated Advisor and as Broker to the Company. The stock market EPIC will be ZMNO.L.

The placing has raised £4 million (c. €6m) for the Company which will enable the delivery of three primary strategic objectives:

• Further strategic acquisitions;
• Increased investment in new technology;
• Expansion into new territories.

Placing Statistics
Placing Price     24 pence
Number of Ordinary Shares being placed on behalf of the Company     16,666,666
Number of Ordinary Shares in issue immediately following Admission     67,838,332
Gross Proceeds of Placing Shares     £4 million
Market capitalisation at the Placing Price     £16.3 million (c.€24m)

Background

Established in 2000 to take advantage of a growing demand for mobile services, zamano is now a market leader in Ireland, has a strong presence in the UK, and commenced trading in Australia in early 2006.

Since its establishment, zamano has invested significantly in the development of a mobile messaging platform and suite of applications. Using this platform, zamano promotes and distributes its services directly to consumers (B2C) and also facilitates commerce between businesses, brands and their end-users (B2B). zamano believes that this 'hybrid' model is a significant advantage in its sector.

The B2B business accounts for approximately 65% of overall Company revenues. Approximately 35% of revenues are generated by mobile content and interactive services in the B2C business. Interactive services include competitions, quizzes, horoscopes, chat and dating. zamano believes that strong future growth prospects exist for both the B2B and B2C businesses. According to Juniper Research, the global market for mobile content is predicted to be worth $11bn in 2006, and is expected to grow to $50bn by 2011.

John O'Shea, Managing Director, said: "Solid investor support for our listing on AIM is a strong endorsement of our achievements to date and demonstrates their confidence in our strategy going forward. All the staff at zamano have worked hard and shown tremendous commitment in reaching this point; together we look forward to the future with confidence and optimism."

Rod Matthews, Non Executive Chairman, said: "We are delighted by the positive response from quality institutional investors to the fund raising. This reflects the strength of zamano's management, record-to-date and position in the rapidly expanding mobile content marketplace. Having successfully completed this phase of zamano's development, we are now well positioned to deliver superior shareholder returns by continuing to implement our strategy."

zamano announced the launch of their latest WAP-Publishing tool at the World Telemedia in Berlin. It is expected to significantly boost the usage of WAP sites in Ireland and UK by helping content providers finally overcome the challenge of ‘discoverability’.

While taking part in the opening keynote panel on Monday, John O’Shea, Managing Director of zamano, announced a new WAP-Publishing tool to the conference. The key to its success is making the call to action simple and giving users different options in terms of content and services.

“With the steadily growing number of easy to use WAP-enabled handsets, I strongly believe that the average consumer is finally ready to explorer the mobile Internet and to download more content ’. Our latest application enables our customers to develop and publish their own multi-media WAP sites with only a few clicks and to broadcast them via bulk SMS”, explains John O’Shea.

Since the end of 2002 the total number of page impressions on WAP pages in the UK increased by more than 325 % and led to a total number of 1.3 billion page impressions by December 2005. While in the past barriers caused by poor usability of mobile handsets made it difficult for non-technical experienced users to browse the mobile web, now phone manufactures and operators tackle this problem actively and make it easier for the average user to access WAP pages.


http://www.WapPublisher.com

With the first ever appearance at the Media Momentum Awards in London last night, zamano made a glorious debut being ranked 13th out of hundreds of competitors.

The Media Momentum awards honour each year the fastest growing media companies in the UK and celebrate the achievements of those companies that are shaping the UK’s media industry. zamano’ s overall performance at the awards reflect the exceptional average growth rate of 594% between the fiscal years 2002 to 2004.

The awards were selected by a high profile judging panel from a list published by GP Bullhound, Barclays, Olswang and its partners, who are committed to the UK Media Industry.To qualify for the annual Media Momentum awards companies must be headquartered in UK and Ireland and must at least have a yearly turnover of £500,000 in 2004. All companies will then be ranked by their annual revenue growth rate between the corresponding financial years

http://www.mediamomentum.co.uk

John O’Shea, Managing Director of zamano, is speaking at the 2006 World Telemedia in Berlin as part of the opening keynote panel on Monday, April 24th.

This year’s World Telemedia takes place in the Maritim Hotel Berlin from the 24th – 26th of April and brings together the leading companies of the mobile industry to three days of high profile networking, conferencing and an exiting exhibition. In relation to zamano’s attendance as an exhibitor this year John O’Shea has been offered a speaker slot in the opening keynote panel on the topic: The changing face of Premium SMS. The panel will be chaired by Andrew Darling, Director of Industry Affairs, NOC who will lead the discussion between the audience and a total of five keynote speakers.

The biannual World Telemedia events in general are known for their networking and deal making. The business is centred around two exhibition halls and complimented by a raft of sponsored parties that lend to a relaxed 24hr-networking atmosphere. In addition to that, the conference brings together a dynamic cross-section of premium content owners, network and billing companies to share their knowledge and expertise on the state of the current market and where future opportunities will lie.

http://www.worldtelemedia.co.uk

Irish helpline organisation Childline launch zamano's HelpText service, aimed to increase the quality level of their counselling to vulnerable children.

(Dublin/London) February 22nd, 2006 -- -- zamano, the leading provider of innovative mobile services, announced today the launch of their new HelpText service with ChildLine, a national helpline for young people to contact trained counsellors to talk about their problems.

"We are delighted to work with zamano in launching their Helptext solution. Not only will it ensure that more children are able to contact Childline, but it also provides them with a choice of how they interact with us, which is both secure and very easy to use", says Aine Lynch, Childline Manager.

Other organisations, such as Journeycall (travel information specialist) already use the new mobile service as a cost effective call centre supplement to expand their business reach. In general HelpText can be used for any kind of information service, for customer support or, in the case of ChildLine, as a secure communication channel. It enables people to access all types of information and services while ‘on the move’, via sms.

The user simply sends a question to a short-code and the operator responds using a secure web based tool. All questions from one user will be assigned to the same operator, who will also have a history of all messages from that user in front of them. In addition to that, zamano’s ‘text2caller’ bolt on compliments the traditional live call service by enabling the operator to confirm, by text, information given verbally, much like 118 services are currently doing.

“Helptext is the ideal service for all types of companies to communicate directly with the customer and to build strong relationships. Although not in Childline’s case, it can also be used to generate additional revenue by charging customers for the service, thereby helping Contact Centres become revenue generators rather than cost centres. Indeed, it is also the perfect, low cost employer communication tool for field force messaging”, says Declan Pettit, UK Country Manager of zamano.

http://www.helptext.info

zamano attributes its 781 percent revenue growth to its innovative mobile services, the commitment of its staff and the clear focus on the growth of its core business.

Dublin, Ireland, 24.11.2005 — zamano today announced that it ranked Number 2 in the Rising Stars category of the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 50, a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology companies in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Rising Stars category recognises younger companies with the fastest growth in turnover over the past three years where zamano ranked number 2 with a growth rate of 781 percent during this period.

David O’Flanaghan, partner with Deloitte, said during the award ceremony: “We are delighted to see the Technology Fast 50 go from strength to strength and tonight’s finalists provide us with a great barometer to assess the state of the emerging technology sector in Ireland. Performance indicators from this year’s list are very positive, representing an impressive average increase in revenue of almost 190 percent on last year.”


Fast 50 Selection and Qualifications

The Fast 50 list is compiled from Deloitte’s nominations submitted directly to the Fast 50, and public company database research. To qualify for the Fast 50, entrants must have had 2000 operating revenues of at least 50,000 Euros. Deloitte researchers examined financial statements to validate operating revenues.

Entrants must also be public or private companies headquartered in a participating region and must be a “technology company,” defined as a company that owns proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company's operating revenues; or devotes a significant proportion of revenues to the research and development of technology. Using other companies' technology in a unique way does not qualify.

About zamano:
As a leading mobile service provider with offices in Dublin and London, zamano enables business partners to deliver mobile content and interactivity via premium SMS, MMS, WAP and IVR. The company's primary focus is the continued growth of the Premium Rate SMS business, the growing demand for WAP services and the ongoing development of new mobile services.

http://www.zamano.com

Mobile users around the UK can now vote via SMS/IVR for their favorite sportswomen as part of The Sunday Times Sportswomen of The Year Awards. The awards, now in their 18th year, honour high-profile female athletes like Paula Radcliffe and Ellen MacArthur, promising young sportswomen and heroes working behind the scenes.

Mobile service provider zamano has been chosen to manage the sms traffic and are also providing telephone lines. In return they will receive extensive branding in paper and online to demonstrate their link with the awards. The deal forms part of their long-term strategy to support and associate themselves with national sporting events.

Andrew Mullins, General Manager, Times Newspapers said: “We want to encourage as many of our readers as possible to vote and we know that our readers love to vote clearly find texting extremely convenient.”

“zamano are delighted to be associated with such an event and to help real sports fans at grass roots level to acknowledge the female achievers in their chosen sport”, said zamano UK Country Manager, Declan Pettit.

In addition to successfully managing voting campaigns, zamano also provide other popular mobile interactive applications such as SMS Helptext, which allows organisations to manage multiple conversations via text message. They also provide Premium rate SMS, MMS, WAP, corporate SMS and other innovate interactive applications such as SMS to TV, via their strong partner base both in UK and Ireland.


http://www.zamano.com

After a shift among the top three Irish mobile service provider, zamano has gained ground and is now number two in this highly competitive market.

According to two of the major Irish mobile operators, zamano has continually grown its Premium Rate SMS revenues and market share, and has now climbed to be number 2 in the Irish service provider market since April.

"Our steady progress over the last year is a testament to our continued investment in the scale and breadth of applications on our platform, but more so to our partners’ abilities to continually innovate and provide highly interactive mobile services", comments John O' Shea, Managing Director of zamano.

The mobile service provider market, especially in Ireland and the UK, is highly competitive and with an approximate number of 40 million mobile phone users in England and Ireland a very attractive business area. In addition to that Ireland has the highest average revenue per user (ARPU) in Europe at EUR47 per month versus the European average of EUR31, according to the Commission for Communication Regulation. Furthermore the Irish mobile market is still growing and the number of SMS sent increased by 22% in 2004 while mobile phone penetration increased by 6% to 94%.


Sebastian Fruend
Marketing & PR, zamano

Tel. +353 1 4885877

The Digital Depot,
Thomas Street,
Dublin 8

Perceived regulatory failure, customer churn and soaring levels of complaints over premium SMS services are pushing mobile operators to consider abandoning the services altogether, siliconrepublic.com has learned.

It emerged this week at a Wireless Wednesday mobile marketing seminar in Dublin that Vodafone was on the verge of closing down its premium messaging business - estimated to be worth £400m sterling a year – because it feared the effects of increasing rates of premium SMS scamming.

Operators in the UK are discovering that the inability of consumers to unsubscribe from premium SMS services such as ringtones and text-to-win competitions are having an adverse affect whereby discouraged consumers ultimately ditch their old number for a new mobile phone account.

Premium SMS works in a similar fashion to the 1800 premium-rate number business insofar as customers pay higher-than-average costs for their text messages if they reply to competitions or sign up for ringtone updates or adult content. However, the mobile sector recently has been dogged by problems surrounding ambiguous opt-out clauses contained in contracts for services customers sign up for. When consumers wish to opt out of a service they discover they are eating up valuable call credit that in turn goes to the errant firm providing the premium SMS service – be it a competition or ringtone service – and when they ring up to opt out they are being held on a premium rate number for long periods of time.

The growing phenomenon of scamming and spamming by text message has exasperated the problem. Last year, UK watchdog the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services levied fines of £500k sterling to six companies found to have been sending out SMS spam. In some scams users would receive messages telling them they have won a prize and would be given a number to call. The number would turn out to be a premium rate number with no prize at the end.

In Ireland, however, a more prevalent form of scamming coming mostly from overseas has unfortunately been targeting children with ringtone and game offers that locks them into a contract difficult to opt out of. In the Dáil recently, Labour TD Mary Upton highlighted a German-owned website called Jamster that was selling ringtones, logos and games and attracting young people’s interest through glossy advertisements in magazines bought by children and teenagers.

Upton highlighted the story of a 10-year-old boy who was given a Christmas present of a new phone with €60 credit. Having seen a glossy advertisement the boy joined the Jamster Club unaware he was agreeing to a contract. The subscriber fee was €8 and €1.65 was charged for every text message received.

Siliconrepublic.com recently spoke to a father of an 11-year-old boy and nine-year-old girl who are both finding their call credit being decimated after signing up for ringtones, games and logos that they hear about either in the playground or through the media.

“In my boy’s case he saw an ad on Nickelodeon for a service called RingtoneKing and it has been next to impossible for him to unsubscribe. For every €10 in call credit we pay for, between €6 and €8 is taken because he receives these messages,” the concerned parent claimed.

According to John O'Shea, chief executive of Irish mobile software firm zamano, who was speaking at the event: “Premium text messaging is forecast to grow 80pc in Ireland in 2005. In the UK it is forecast to grow 60pc. Of this market approximately 25pc of revenues come from adult content. While adult services are not available in Ireland trials are expected to take place in July for adult services in the Irish market using short codes. It is predicted that the adult premium SMS market in Ireland will grow at the same rate as that of the UK.

“Vodafone in recent weeks were on the verge of closing down its £400m sterling a year premium SMS business because voice and data services are worth billions and it doesn’t want to risk churn.”

O’Shea said that while scamming has been far more prevalent in the UK market than it has in Ireland, Irish people are less likely to fall prey to scams in their own market and instead are far more at risk from overseas scammers. “In the UK, where the market has been saturated by scammers, less than half of 1pc of people respond to these messages. However, in Ireland 10pc of people will respond to an unsolicited message because they trust the medium. The only reason why there are few actual scammers in the Irish marketplace is because Ireland is a small economy and potential scammers would be afraid that they would get caught out.”

O’Shea argued that although the premium SMS market in Ireland is regulated by RegTel, an initial code of practice needs to be revisited and the introduction of a ‘stop-all’ code – recently introduced in the UK - for consumers who wish to opt out of a contract should be explored.

Eoghan Patton, partnership manager at O2 Ireland, described the concern felt by operators. “The key is to make it easy for people to opt out. The mobile phone industry is suffering because of services that people cant’ get out of easily. Operator lines are getting flooded and it certainly could influence churn.

“In the first code of conduct for this sector there was no reference to the word ‘stop’. In the UK this has begun to be promoted vigorously.

“There is a lot that the industry can do in the long term. For one thing, we need to promote and regulate for the use of the 'stop' keyword that enables people to opt out of premium SMS contracts,” Patton said.

2004 was a year of tremendous accomplishments for zamano.

Turnover increased by 350% over 2003.
Sustained profitability has been achieved.

zamano's SMS platform performance and reliability has been vastly improved and is capable of further scaling and a number of new applications have been launched which further broaden zamano's offering in the SMS and IVR space.

http://www.zamano.com

zamano will shortly be hiring in three key areas

1. Sales Manager, UK, based in London office, responsible for overall sales management and growth in UK market, reporting to M.D.
2. Business Development role, based in Dublin, responsible for growing existing and new business in Irish market, reporting to Ireland country manager
3. Developer, specifically with front-end javascripting and usability experience

Job specifications will be available next week. If you're interested in applying, send a CV to recruitment@zamano.com


http://www.zamano.com

zamano, a leading provider of Premium Mobile Data Services in Ireland and the UK, having experienced a prolonged increase in demand for services, has announced the following appointments:

Libby Foley has been appointed Development Manager, having worked as a Senior Developer with zamano since 2001.

Brian Purcell and Michael Moroney have joined the Customer Services Team, Carl O Bruachain the Finance Department, while Tadhg White has joined the UK sales team in London.

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services.

We are now recruiting for the following position:

Business Development - Ireland

zamano is a leading provider of Premium Mobile Data Services to partners and customers primarily in Ireland and the UK.

Due to an increase in demand for the services offered by zamano, and continuing company success in the marketplace, zamano is now hiring for a role within the Irish Business Development Team.

This role will involve the combination of increasing business with existing customers, responding to enquiries and prospecting new business.

The successful candidate will be an ambitious, detail-oriented, sales professional, comfortable with technology and capable of multi-tasking in a complex environment. Good presentation, verbal and written skills are a must. A keen sense for revenue generation opportunities and margin analysis is also vital.

This is a high growth potential company with excellent career-building opportunities.

Location: Digital Depot, Dublin

Starting Salary:
                Basic: €20K - €22K
                OTE: €30- €32K+
                BUPA
                Employee Share Option Scheme
                Pension scheme



About zamano
zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services

Contact details

John O’Shea
Commercial Director
john(at)zamano.com
+353 1 4100567
+44 207 324 7092

zamano, Ireland’s leading provider of Premium Mobile Services won the award for Best Wireless Content at the 2nd O2 DMI Awards event on January 29th at Dublin’s Burlington Hotel.

zamano’s wireless content offering spans games, subscription and personalisation services, and also delivers enhanced mobile interactivity.

Games attracting many thousands of players in Britain and Ireland include Showdown, SmartAss, Liverpool Text Manager and Name that Tone, SMS games built around sport, music and trivia combining knowledge, predictive ability and speed of response to determine winners.

zamano both develop and deliver the complete range of mobile content types including polyphonic ringtones, WAP content and text-based services such as lotto and horoscopes. December 2003 saw the introduction of the MerryMobile, whereby a Christmas greeting of a ringtone, picture message and personalised message can be sent from one mobile user to another.

The best content however, is developed through enhancing mobile interaction. zamano’s dating and advertisement placement services link thousands of people through over 50 newspapers in UK and Ireland. Our Scrolltext service permits the texting of content to big outdoor screens, websites and TV.

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services


Contact details

John O’Shea
Commercial Director

zamano, Ireland’s leading provider of Mobile Data Services, has moved to The Digital Hub, starting a new era in the company’s development.

The Digital Hub’s vision is to create a centre of excellence for innovation, creativity, research and learning focussed on developing new and existing media enterprises. zamano’s profile is very much in line with this vision, as the company foresees itself at the forefront of rapid growth in the international Mobile Data Services space.

Commenting on the move, zamano’s CEO Seán Mac Reamoinn stated “ this move comes at an opportune time for zamano as we are entering a new phase of very rapid growth in our core business.”

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services


Contact details

John O’Shea
Commercial Director

zamano, Ireland’s leading provider of Mobile Data Services, has announced the signing of a contract with Mobile Marketing Botswana to provide a wide range of SMS-based marketing and competition services into the African nation.

zamano now provide similar services in Ireland, the UK, Holland and are planning a USA offering early this year.

The Botswana deal will see zamano making available a wide range of highly interactive applications to the country’s entire mobile subscriber base, gaining valuable experience of market dynamics.

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services


Contact details

John O’Shea
Commercial Director

zamano announced today that it recently handled its ten millionth message over its EVATEM Premium Rate SMS platform. Exponential growth in traffic is being experienced, both through the continued increasing usage of services by existing customers and through the addition of new customers in the UK and Ireland.

Commenting on the growth, zamano’s Commercial Director, John O’Shea said “ Premium Rate SMS is now being used for a multitude of reasons, including newspaper advertisement placement, purchasing mobile content, playing games, chatting and obtaining regular content updates. We foresee continued explosive growth for the year ahead”

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services


Contact details

John O’Shea
Commercial Director

zamano has recently completed a major upgrade of its technical infrastructure, which will increase SMS traffic capacity by a factor of ten to over 10 million messages per month, and which also enables the offering of a comprehensive Aggregation service for companies wishing to connect their applications to all Mobile Network Operators in the UK and Ireland.

The new MMG platform (Mobile Messaging Gateway) enhances scalability and robustness while also improves tracking ability for messages throughout the platform and applications.

zamano’s Aggregation Offering will be of especial benefit to existing players in the UK market whose advertising is seen in Ireland. According to Darren O Rodaigh, zamano’s Business Development Manager in the UK, “the “Anglo-Irish” aggregation service is a low-cost means of adding up to 10% traffic and revenues for customers actively advertising in the UK market”

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services


Contact details

John O’Shea
Commercial Director

zamano announced today that it is now offering a full range of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) services in the UK and Ireland. This offering is in response to requests from a number of zamano’s Premium SMS customers who wish to offer their customers the choice of interacting via SMS and voice technology.

zamano’s solution is hosted and fully integrated with the existing SMS platform, thereby enabling hybrid SMS-IVR offerings as well as standalone solutions.

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services


Contact details

John O’Shea
Commercial Director
john(at)zamano.com
+353 1 4100567
+44 207 324 7092

Liverpoolfc.tv, the official Club website of Liverpool FC, last week launched LFC Text Manager, a unique SMS game developed in collaboration with zamano. Players are challenged with the task of bringing the Reds from the bottom to the top of the Premiership by answering 19 questions corresponding to games against other clubs. The difficulty level of each question is dependent on the team faced and whether the fixture’s at Anfield or away. And the answers must be sent within 5 minutes!

A considerable challenge, but with a range of highly valued Club prizes on offer, it’s expected to attract thousands of players from all networks in UK and Ireland.


About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services

Contact details

John O’Shea
Commercial Director

Playstation Experience, the highly popular exhibition of Playstation’s latest games and consoles was enhanced by the use of zamano’s interactive SMS services. Earl’s Court, 28th – 31st August, was the centrepoint for thousands of Playstation enthusiasts, who came to try out all the latest games. Sony asked zamano to deploy a suite of SMS services and games to enrich the experience even further. zamano’s Scrolltext allowed visitors text their comments to the large screens, while zamano’s Showdown game and multiple Text 2 Win competitions were run to decide the winners of a range of valuable Playstation prizes.

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services

Contact details

John O’Shea
Commercial Director

zamano will be exhibiting in the Mobile Content Pavilion of Mobile Commerce World, the year’s most important exhibition in the space.

The exhibition is staged at ExCel in London on the 23rd and 24th of September, and is expected to be a key meeting point for Mobile Operators, Media Partners and Service Providers.

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services


Contact details

John O’Shea
Commercial Director

Liverpoolfc.tv, the official Club website of Liverpool FC, recently launched the LFC Shootout, a rapid-fire SMS game developed by zamano. In addition, zamano have been contracted to develop a further unique game for Liverpool FC which will launch in August 2003.

Thousands of fans have already played LFC Shootout, a unique SMS game which combines knowledge and speed of response over six rounds of questions to determine the winner of exclusive LFC prizes.

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services

O2 are deploying zamano’s Scrolltext product at all the O2 Party in the Park events this summer, reaching a combined audience of over 1,000,000 people in UK and Ireland. Scrolltext allows concert-goers to text their messages to the big screen, and adds tremendously to the party atmosphere at the events. zamano’s product filters the messages before transferring them to the screen.

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services

Buy and Sell, the popular nationwide small ads paper, has recently launched a new texting service for its advertisers. Powered by zamano’s SMS platform, it allows customers to simply text in their small ads conveniently, any time of the day or night. Existing ads can also be renewed simply. The texts received are seamlessly delivered into Buy and Sell’s publishing system, further streamlining the paper production process.

The service has been launched in Buy and Sell’s Leinster/Connaught, Munster and Northern Ireland editions, and is already proving extremely popular with advertisers.

About zamano

zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services

Advanced Telecom Services, the London-based provider of voice personal services to over 70 newspaper titles in UK and Ireland, has partnered with zamano to provide a text equivalent for their very popular service.

It is now possible to place and respond to personal advertisements using Premium Rate SMS. The service is now on offer in 15 newspapers including The Evening Standard, The Guardian, The Belfast Telegraph and The Irish Times.

About zamano
zamano delivers turnkey Premium Mobile Services, enabling brands and media to profit from interaction with mobile customers.

zamano provides interactive applications, content, shortcodes and a robust end-to-end managed service, supporting Bulk and Premium Rate SMS and IVR offerings in the UK and Ireland.

zamano’s technology also enables early MMS and Java-based Mobile Services

zamano, a leading Mobile Service Provider, has announced the acquisition of the Interactive SMS business of UK-based Avoca Communications Limited, providing zamano with a direct connection to 10 premium rate SMS Shortcodes covering all four UK mobile network operators.

"This opens up the entire UK market for zamano's successful Value Added Text services, including games, voting, competitions and payment solutions," said Sean Mac Reamoinn, zamano's Managing Director. "It also allows our existing partners to extend their reach across the UK and further strengthens our relationships with the UK network operators, many of whom are already customers."

"zamano's service offering is compelling for media channels, brands and corporations alike," said Paul Targett, Managing Director of Avoca. "It delivers tangible financial value and enables great Text services instantly."

This acquisition follows the recent merger with mobile Internet specialist, m-iSphere, which broadened zamano's portfolio of SMS products and services. Both the merger and the acquisition highlight zamano's leading role in consolidation within the mobile technology industry.


About zamano
zamano is a leading Mobile Service Provider developing, managing and hosting a complete range of mobile applications for Mobile Network Operators, major brands, media channels and corporates. Customers and partners include O2, Vodafone, Orange, RTE, Thomas Crosbie Media, Scottish Radio Holdings/Today FM, Smurfit Communications and Teletext.

For more information please contact:
John O’ Shea, Commercial Director, zamano
john(at)zamano.com
London +44 20 7324 6090
Dublin +353 1 4100 567

SHOWDOWN is the new quick-fire SMS quiz game from zamano produced in association with RTÉ Interactive. Lunchtime every Friday is now the starting time for the largest mass audience quiz game in Ireland. Thousands of people receive the first question from SHOWDOWN on their mobiles, and are given a certain time to respond. Get the question right in the time permitted, and players progress to round 2, when they are told how many people are left in, and are given another question, and a shorter time to respond.

The rapid fire game proceeds over 8 rounds with one winner emerging from up to 12,000 entrants. Speed of response and knowledge are the keys to victory!

SHOWDOWN was developed by zamano, and runs over the company’s Value Added Text Messaging Platform EVATEM. The public launch of the game has been in association with RTE Interactive, with prize sponsorship from Sony and DVDRentals.ie. Each text received costs 30c. To register for Friday’s SHOWDOWN, simply text the word SHOW to 53030 . For more information see the SHOWDOWN website www.rte.ie/txt/showdown.html

About zamano
zamano is a world-leading provider of innovative, profitable mobile applications to European mobile network operators, media partners, major brands and corporates. The zamano product suite supports applications across all mobile technologies: SMS, WAP, GPRS and 3G, enabling compelling mobile interaction. Focussing on revenue generating entertainment and enhanced messaging services, zamano has an international reach of over 36m mobile subscribers.

Leading Mobile Service Provider, zamano, has further broadened its international horizons by addressing the HP Mobile E-Services Bazaar Summer Camp in Beijing, China, upon invitation from HP. zamano was one of a select group of European companies in attendance in Beijing. The event focussed on the interoperability of Multimedia Messaging.

zamano implemented and verified MMSC interoperabilty for its application suite and also initiated commercial relationships with Chinese Mobile Network Operators and best of breed application partners.

"Beijing has been a wonderful success for the HP Bazaar from both a technical and commercial perspective. Tremendous synergies can emerge when industry thought leaders - such as zamano - are brought together from the different continents," said Andrew Bolwell, Global Director, HP Mobile e-services Bazaar.

"We value greatly our partnership with the HP Bazaar" said Eoin Ó Ceallacháin, Chief Technology Officer of zamano. "Few global leaders are as committed to the mobility market as HP. The global reach of HP is of immense benefit to mobile application developers and is central to our growth strategy in zamano."

m-iSphere and zamano are announcing today that they have merged, retaining the zamano name and aiming to expand in line with the fast growing Mobile Internet market.

This merger brings together two leading players of the Irish Mobile Internet industry, creating one of the largest such companies in Ireland. zamano now benefits from a complete end-to-end product and service offering, a broader international sales reach and a strengthened management team.

m-iSphere's mobile loyalty and marketing products are the ideal complement to zamano's content and service delivery platform across GSM, GPRS, 3G and I-mode networks. Both companies have also developed a set of mobile gaming applications that together form a full product portfolio.

The merged company's customer base now spans network operators and multinational brands across four European countries.

The management team's depth of industry experience and vision for the future of the Mobile Internet has been fully supported by Enterprise Ireland and Powerscourt Nominees Ltd., the investment vehicle of Powerscourt Capital Partners, who are institutional investors in the enlarged zamano entity.

ABOUT ZAMANO
The newly merged company zamano is an end-to-end provider of interactive Mobile Internet solutions to Network Operators, media companies and consumer brands.

Established in 1999, zamano now employs over 20 staff, has over 50 customers in Europe, including mobile operators O2, Vodafone and Orange.

Dublin based, m-iSphere Telecommunications Limited announces this week the successful closing of its second funding. The subscribers to this investment include Enterprise Ireland and Powerscourt Capital Partners Ltd.

" We are delighted to have closed this funding in a very difficult market environment" said Emmanuel Doubinsky, Managing Director and Co- Founder of m-iSphere "This investment from existing and new investors is a vote of confidence in the company vision and an ackowledgment of its impressive track-record. This funding will help us build the business and look for strong partnerships to compete successfully in this growing mobile value added services market".