Comverse and Vodacom bring Visual Voicemail to S.Africa

NEW DELHI,INDIA:Vodacom, a South Africa mobile operator has launched the nation's first visual voicemail service, powered by Comverse and available to iPhone users.

A press release said that Visual voicemail makes voicemail more convenient and attractive for users, who no longer need to dial in for their messages. Instead, a glance at the phone’s inbox shows all relevant information about a message, such as date, time, sender and length. The user then clicks on any message to hear it and can listen to messages in any order.

By using visual voicemail, recipients retrieve voice messages quicker and are more likely to return calls. Callers also are encouraged to leave more messages because they realize their messages tend to be heard immediately. With more messages being deposited and more calls returned, operators maximize the revenue potential of visual voicemail.

"Being the first in the country to launch visual voicemail underscores Vodacom’s standing as an innovation leader,” said Dror Bin, President of Global Sales at Comverse, the world's leading supplier of software and systems enabling value-added messaging and content services, converged billing and active customer management, and IP communications.

“With this service launch in South Africa, visual voicemail has now expanded its presence and popularity to key regions around the world,” Bin said. “We are proud of Comverse’s leading role in making visual voicemail the global next-generation voicemail standard.”

With more than two thirds of commercial launches worldwide, Comverse is the visual voicemail market leader. Comverse Visual Voicemail is part of the Comverse HUB Value-Added Services, which spans voice, messaging, mobile Internet and mobile advertising. Comverse HUB is a synergistic framework that enables service providers to maximize their business performance and augment their position in the market.