I know this is old news but it is huge. We should get another...

I know this is old news but it is huge.
We should get another anouncement about this soon.


SYNTONIC Expands Sponsored Data Services to Southeast Asia to Accelerate Mobile Advertising, Content, and Application Growth
by Syntonic | Feb 17, 2016 | News, Press Releases | 0 comments

WhatsApp, BBM® (Blackberry Messenger), WeChat, Twitter, and Clash of Clans to be Made Available as Sponsored Data Applications via Freeway by Syntonic

Seattle, WA – February 17, 2016 –Syntonic, a mobile platform services provider, today announced that an updated version of its sponsored data application, Freeway by Syntonic®, currently available to AT&T customers in the United States, will be made available in Q1 2016 in Southeast Asia, and for the first time, provide native application support for sponsored data services. The market expansion will enable leading mobile operators the opportunity to offer subscribers in the region with free mobile access to Clash of Clans and an inaugural list of popular messaging and social media applications. Freeway by Syntonic is opening new opportunities for mobile operators, app developers, and brand advertisers to reach mobile subscribers in Southeast Asia, a market with an insatiable demand for mobile content. The first wave of applications available include Clash of Clans, WhatsApp, BBM, WeChat, and Twitter. This catalog of sponsored data offers will only be available in Southeast Asia.

Recent research found that sponsored data will become a US $6b market opportunity in Asia and a US $23b opportunity worldwide by 2019. Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia represent the world’s highest concentrations of smartphone devices as well as prepaid data plans, making it the most attractive market for sponsored data services. In Indonesia, 98% of mobile plans are prepaid, whereby the consumer purchases data, and rations usage until they’ve reached their limit. While U.S. operators have jumped on sponsored data services – AT&T Data Perks, Verizon FreeBee Data, and T-Mobile Binge On™ – a compelling market opportunity for sponsored data resides in prepaid markets, where mobile data traffic is forecasted to increase 14 times from 2015 to 2021 and with data costs comprising 2-6% of median household income.

Powered by Syntonic’s Connected Services Platform™ (CSP), Freeway by Syntonic enables mobile data usage for specified applications to be paid for by someone other than the consumer, such as content providers, game publishers, advertisers, and mobile operators. For instance, a mobile brand advertiser can pay for data used to download an app, specific content being viewed, a period of time interacting with content, a specific demographic or type of customer. All of these tactics can be used to help mobile ecosystem participants acquire new customers, deepen engagement and loyalty with existing consumers, and discover new monetization models for their content.

“We believe 2016 is the year of sponsored data,” said Gary Greenbaum, co-founder and CEO, Syntonic. “Southeast Asia is emerging as the world’s largest and most active prepaid data market, and consumers have demonstrated an enormous appetite for accessing mobile content and applications. The market has all the right conditions to make significant progress in sponsored data innovations and business models. Freeway by Syntonic is the most complete sponsored data platform in the market, and we plan to lead the charge in revolutionizing how mobile content is discovered, consumed, and monetized.”

Initially, Freeway by Syntonic will provide sponsored data support for WhatsApp, BBM, WeChat, Twitter, Clash of Clans and will be expanding content throughout Southeast Asia during 2016. To access supported apps, consumers need only download the Freeway by Syntonic application from the Google Play store. Once the Freeway by Syntonic application is installed, all content promoted in the app will be sponsored. The Company’s sponsored data market expansion is following the Consumer Electronics Show 2016 (CES), where Syntonic sponsored access to all CES content for AT&T mobile subscribers.