Airtel Ghana, the fastest growing telecommunications company in Ghana has announced a deal for managed Value Added Services (VAS) with mobile software company, Rancard Solutions, a leader in mobile VAS technology with content discovery algorithms. Under the terms of this agreement, Airtel Ghana will use Rancard’s service management tool, Value Added Services Provider Manager (VASP Manager), to deploy and manage multiple content provider accounts and services. This enables the mobile network to render a rich, diverse and concerted mobile content and service experience for their subscribers. Built by Rancard, VASP Manager runs in the rancardmobility.com cloud and enables Airtel Ghana to deploy, manage, deliver and monetize applications, content and services over various channels (mobile web, SMS, MMS, USSD, etc.), using Rancard’s content discovery technology Rendezvous, and to provide access to major brands including BBC, ESPN, MTVBase and Google. VASP Manager provides a seamless service management interface to Rancard’s mobile message switch, payments gateway and content hosting applications, which are all integrated with Airtel’s infrastructure for billing, messaging and subscriber management. The Rendezvous technology leverages network data to provide a personalized, relevant, content discovery experience for mobile subscribers using social recommendations, which are proven to yield four times the rate of promotions. This allows Airtel to connect their subscribers to relevant content, applications and services, a move the network believes will establish it as an innovation-adopting pioneer in the marketplace and multiply its rapidly growing subscriber base. Rancard’s Director for Product Management and Marketing, Ehizogie Binitie said in a statement, “Rancard’s focus is to provide mobile network operators with the tools that enable them to improve their ARPUs and keep subscribers engaged through innovation. We believe with Rendezvous we enable mobile subscribers to find the content/applications/services they really want with software-enabled recommendations from people they trust inside of the network.” Airtel’s Director of Marketing, Oare Ojekere, said of the partnership, “Airtel’s partnership with Rancard Solutions gives us the flexibility to address our customers’ needs in various ways, leading to greater customer satisfaction; providing another reason to join the network that is customer-centric.” About Airtel in Africa Airtel is the new brand name for the 16 Zain operations across Africa which was acquired by Airtel International in June 2010. Airtel is driven by the vision of providing affordable and innovative mobile services to all. Airtel has African operations in: Burkina Faso, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. Airtel International is a Bharti Airtel company. For more information, please visit www.airtel.com About Rancard Rancard, based in Accra and Lagos, opens up innovation on mobile networks by facilitating discovery, delivery and monetization of mobile content/apps/services in the rancardmobility cloud. With blue chip content and application brands Google, ESPN, MTV, VOA, BBC, leading brands in specific markets such as Next, payment service providers eTranzact, AfricXpress, etc., Rancard delivers connections to millions of mobile users in Africa and the Middle East in more than 15 countries. Rancard’s Rendezvous content discovery technology uses social recommendations to connect mobile users to relevant content, yielding high returns for mobile network operators and service providers in the rancardmobility cloud. For more information, please visit www.rancard.com