Scottish company slashes mobile roaming costs for business travellers

Cherry grows organically with support from Wireless Innovation

This week sees the launch of the new international mobile network brand Cherry^TM (Telecommunications) and website www.mycherrymobile.com which offers the lowest mobile phone tariff available when roaming internationally.

Cherry^TM is bringing to market an innovative new SIM card that reduces costly mobile phone bills often incurred by frequent international business travellers.

Cherry^TM SIM technology enables businesses and individuals to substantially reduce their roamed call charges while making calls when overseas.  The Cherry SIM makes low cost standard rate calls across various local networks, often locking onto the strongest network signal in the area, resulting in superior call clarity.

The Glasgow headquartered company credits Wireless Innovation, Scotland's national initiative supporting wireless and mobile technologies, for 12-months of business critical access to marketplace analytics and expertise, and its influential network of industry contacts.

"The Cherry^TM brand is about providing high quality, value for money international mobile services which are easy to use and easy to understand.  We nurture an innovative, dynamic and 'throw away the mould' culture, which is reflected also in our job titles," explained Growth Driver, Nigel Chadwick.  "Of particular importance is an exceptional level of customer service, with outstanding quality being a core attribute to the Cherry^TM brand.

"Support from Wireless Innovation has proved to be of real value in helping us to seek out the right opportunities for our new product. We intend to grow the Cherry^TM brand organically, and our continuing relationship with Wireless Innovation can only help us to further understand the complexities of the fast moving mobile marketplace."

Cherry's^TM pioneering new technology comes from the team behind Stream Communications - the UK's largest Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) in the Machine to Machine (M2M) sector.  Stream is widely recognised in the sector as a pioneering and niche operator.  Late last year, in recognition of its achievements it reached the finals in an unprecedented three categories in the prestigious National Business Awards.

Alisdair Gunn, Technology Manager at Wireless Innovation commented: "In the last year, we've had the pleasure of working in close contact with the innovators behind Stream and Cherry^TM, and are excited to support companies with such local economic impact and global market potential.

"The launch of services like Cherry^TM, are crucial to developing the global roaming market. With market leading companies such as Cherry and Stream Communications, I believe Nigel and his fellow Director Kevin McDowall are great examples of true entrepreneurs."

Businesses signing up with Cherry^TM can also tap into the fast growing opportunities in the M2M sector given the advanced nature of the Cherry^TM SIM technology. Nigel Chadwick commented:

"Cherry's^TM business proposition follows on from our success in making Stream a leader in the field of managed network services in the M2M sector. The two businesses have an important synergy in the provision of GPRS, with Stream's expertise in delivery and billing of these complex services unrivalled in the UK.

"Cherry's^TM next advance will be to provide a service in which business travellers can use data cards to link up their laptops and handheld devices."

The market forecast for global mobile roaming is expected to grow to US $211.86 billion and 850,000,000 users by 2010 accounting for 28% of total mobile revenues1.

For further information, interviews or photography contact:

Joanna Downie at TVI  M: 07771 773699

Nigel Chadwick at Cherry^TM  T: 0141 333 0068

Alisdair Gunn at Wireless Innovation  T: 0141 585 6315

Notes to editors:

About Cherry and Stream

Cherry^TM SIM contracts can be purchased by calling customer services on T: 0870 7666900 or going to Website www.mycherrymobile.com

Founded in 2000, Stream Communications is a specialist mobile network operator which offers an advanced range of cellular based network services across continental Europe for the M2M sector.  Stream continues to pioneer innovation in the fields of managed mobile network services.  Services also now include: Managed Fixed IP Services; Matrix GSM Based High Accuracy and API Location Feeds; High Definition Mapping; Bespoke Billing & Payment Collection Services.

The company was recently listed in the Mobile Data Association's "Top 50 UK Companies to Watch" and also finalist in three categories within the prestigious UK and Scottish 2005 National Business Awards.  On the strength of its innovation, the company has also been chosen as one of the participants in the DTI supported "Best of British Technology Showcase" at CeBIT 2006.

www.stream-communications.com

Industry terms and definitions:

Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) is another category of mobile network operator. As far as the subscriber is concerned, they seem identical to regular mobile network operators, however, the critical difference is that they do not own the underlying network, but lease it instead from another incumbent operator in that country.

M2M is an abbreviation for machine-to-machine, or technology that supports wired or wireless communication between machines.

General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) is a packet-based wireless communication service that promises data rates from 56 up to 114 Kbps and continuous connection to the Internet for mobile phone and computer users.

1 Source: Informa Telecoms & Media Global Mobile Roaming Report 2005