Telus Mobility introduces Canada's First Pay Per Use Wireless Web Access - Brief Article

Wireless Internet, Sept, 2001

Telus Mobility became the first Canadian wireless carrier to introduce Pay Per Use wireless Web access, allowing clients to customize and control their wireless Web experience while giving Telus Mobility and its on-line content partners the ability to build both new revenue and new transactional wireless services.

"Value-based Pay Per Use makes the standard airtime billing model used by most wireless carriers obsolete," said Robert Blumenthal, Telus Mobility's vice president of wireless Internet services. "Pay Per Use gives our Pocket Web clients control over their Web usage and access to an ongoing stream of new premium services. Our on-line content partners benefit from the flexibility of the system and the new revenue-sharing options we offer for their best services. And we benefit not only from the higher usage volumes and revenues predicted for these premium services, but from having the technological foundation laid for a new world of transaction-based in-commerce services."

With Pay Per Use, Telus Mobility clients pay a set cost for the value-added Pocket Web services they select. With the airtime model used by competitors, costs for services such as games and directories can vary greatly with access speed and search times, meaning users are often perplexed by the Web access charges that appear on their monthly bills.

Telus Mobility Pocket Web clients will be charged for premium services such as Pocket Play, which already features more than 50 games; Pocket 411 telephone directories; and Pocket Map mapping and direction services. Each client will be able to access several premium Pocket Web sessions per month at no extra charge, and all Pocket Web plans also allow unlimited access to a wide selection of Telus Mobility's more than 80 on-line content partners.