Ericsson, Napster Sign Agreement With TMN Portugal"

STOCKHOLM -(Dow Jones)- Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson, Tuesday said it and American file-sharing company Napster have agreed with Portuguese operator Portugal Telecom unit TMN Portugal for the music service Napster Mobile.

The company said Napster Mobile gives TMN Portugal's subscribers access to more than two million full-length tracks from the Napster catalogue in the palms of their hands. They will also have access to Ericsson-aggregated personalization content, it said.

Zeinal Bava, president of TMN Portugal, said: "Napster Mobile, with the well-known Napster brand, is an attractive offering that we are pleased to include in our portfolio. Ericsson offered us an easy, cost-efficient and quick way to launch the service through its hosted offering, which we think is a good business model for us."

Ericsson said Napster Mobile allows TMN's subscribers to search, browse, preview and purchase the content of their choice via their WAP or Java-enabled phones, and that other features include a recommendation engine, which suggests content based upon each individual's taste, and dual delivery, which makes sure that, when content is purchased on the phone, a copy is sent to the customer's personal computer.

Hans-Erhard Reiter, president, Ericsson Portugal, said: "Napster Mobile was codeveloped by Ericsson and Napster, leveraging Napster's immense catalogue of more than two million full-length tracks and Ericsson's mobile music platform and personalization content. It's a great offer for operators and we're glad to have TMN on board."

Ericsson said hosting means it will integrate and manage the round-the-clock operations of the service for TMN under a managed service agreement. The hosting business model allows operators to launch attractive new services easily and cost-efficiently, with short time-to-market, it said.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 14th November 2006