Australian ISP eisa has debuted as the country’s new
largest service provider by announcing a partnership with mobile
telecommunications company Vodafone to provide Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP) content.
Under the marketing and technology alliance, eisa will work with
Vodafone to develop and provide content for the companies’ combined
audience of more than 1.7 million people.
This audience is comprised of Vodafone’s 1.3 million customers
nationally, and eisa-OzEmail’s 450,000 subscribers.
eisa intends to provide these users with news and weather reports, stock
information and maps to mobile devices.
eisa has not yet identified whether it will provide all of this content,
or if it will partner with content providers to deliver it to subscribers.
This announcement comes a day after eisa suspended trading on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) to announce
it would purchase the consumer ISP division of Australian service provider
OzEmail, equivalent to 20 per cent
of the company (see story).
eisa’s AUD$350 million (US$221 million) offer is still subject to
approval by the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission (ACCC), following its anti-competition
investigation.
eisa is also yet to identify how it will pay for OzEmail. With cash
reserves of around AUD$35 million (US$23 million), the company needs
financial injection from partners or investors to realise the purchase,
however it has not confirmed any such supporters.