Blyk Goes Live with First Hop Wireless Broker

Blyk Goes Live with First Hop Wireless Broker

Helsinki (Finland) – 25 September, 2007 – Blyk, the new mobile network for 16- to 24-year-olds that announced the launch of its UK service yesterday, operates the First Hop® Wireless Broker™ suite.

Blyk is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that links young people with brands of their choice and gives them free text messages and talk time every month. It operates the First Hop® Wireless Broker™ suite including the Ad-Gateway that enables targeted, personalised ad insertion using messaging, multimedia push, and browsing services.

First Hop has had a significant role in building its unique service delivery platform designed to deliver a free mobile phone service for young consumers in return for their interaction with relevant brand advertising. First Hop’s experience in building service delivery platforms to over 60 mobile operators worldwide enabled it to offer Blyk a robust campaign management and ad-insertion solution.

Pekka Ala-Pietilä, CEO for Blyk said: “We have spent the last year developing a unique, robust advertising content engine, and whilst the technology we are using is incredibly advanced, the main premise of Blyk is driven by three basic principles – ease of use, interaction, and relevance of communication.”

Kaj Hagros, VP Marketing & Business Development at First Hop commented: “We are thrilled to see Blyk’s disruptive concept reaching this stage. Everyone will eye its success very carefully and we believe Blyk will launch the industry into a whole new era of profoundly personalised and targeted services. Mobile operators have not fully exploited the true potential of their subscriber data, let alone this advertising model. We are excited to see Blyk lead the way”, he added.

First Hop believes mobile devices have the potential to become the preferred digital marketing channel, with promotion and advertising being targeted at a single user level. Advertisers will fund the air time knowing they will reach their desired target segments with a precision that could never be attained in mass marketing or direct campaigns.

First Hop CEO Timo Laaksonen will be presenting the company’s view on the mobile advertising market at the Mobile Asia Congress, Macao, Nov 12-15.

Ends

About Blyk
Blyk is the new mobile network for 16 – 24s that’s funded by advertising. Blyk links young people with brands they like and gives them free texts and minutes every month. Blyk was co-founded in 2006 by Pekka Ala-Pietilä and Antti Öhrling and has offices in Helsinki, Finland and London, UK. Blyk is now operating in the UK, with other European markets to follow. For more information, visit about.blyk.com.

About First Hop
First Hop combines mobile service creation, multi-channel delivery, and business management into a single software product suite. Our mission is to drive the value of mobile services through personalisation, intelligent promotion, and multimedia control. First Hop® Wireless Broker™ focuses on service control – the ability for operators and service providers to react to market trends by rapidly implementing new services or service bundles, new business models, subscription types, targeted campaigns, and advertising-funded services.

Founded in 1997, First Hop is privately held and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with sales and support operations in the UK, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. First Hop is globally recognized for our mobile service control expertise, and our products have been chosen by more than 60 mobile operators, such as Vodafone, T-Mobile, and Telefónica.

For more information on First Hop, please visit www.firsthop.com.