blah! enters Asia-Pacific via Smart tie-up

blah!, a leading provider of value-added services, has announced that Smart Communications Inc. has become the first wireless carrier in the Asia-Pacific region to join blah!’s multi-language mobile community.

Under the agreement, over 10 million Smart subscribers will now have access to blah!’s cool and exciting "infotainment" services, enabling them to chat with other Smart subscribers that are members of blah!’s unique virtual community.

In addition, Smart subscribers will be able to reach out to blah!’s existing community of more than 2.5 million users in Latin America and the United States.

Becoming part of the blah! community is easy. Smart users simply type a text message on their wireless phone using "reg," followed by their desired nickname as the message content, and send this to a specific short code. Once registered, customers can search and chat with others nationally or internationally.

"Smart continues to offer exciting, innovative services such as blah!, which provides our mobile community with the unique opportunity to meet and chat with people around the world right from their wireless phone," said Don Rae, chief operations adviser for Smart Communications.

The addition of Smart means that the blah! community is now available in nine countries, offering consumers completely wireless interactivity across the Americas and Asia-Pacific markets.

The Asia-Pacific region represents the world’s largest wireless market, with more than 433 million mobile users, according to global mobile subscriber Database. The Philippines represents the largest SMS or text messaging market in the Asia-Pacific, with about 17 million subscribers sending an estimated 120 million text messages everyday.

"We are excited that Smart subscribers will now be a part of the blah! community. This agreement greatly expands the size and global scope of our wireless community, and represents another important step toward our goal of creating the world‘s largest wireless infotainment community," said Federico Pisani Massamormile, blah! CEO.

"The expansion into the Asia-Pacific region demonstrates that teenagers and young adults have the same consumer behavior everywhere. This deal will most certainly open doors for additional wireless carriers in this region in the future," Massamormile added.

blah! was established to provide wireless carriers with a unique array of value-added services, while offering users new fun ways to interact with others who share similar interests and ideas.

Created in June 2000 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, blah! is a wholly owned subsidiary of telecom italia mobile (tim). It entered the US market this year, with its North American headquarters in Miami, Florida.