Reliance Communications, the global partner of the International Cricket Council (ICC), will be live steaming the World Cup 2011 matches.
The telecom major also said Wednesday it has kicked off marketing activities for next year’s cricket World Cup and is conducting a three-city preview of the trophy.
Reliance Mobile will go live with all the World Cup matches through its ICC zone on R-World Vas platform.
Reliance Mobile customers will be able to keep a track of the 49 ICC CWC 2011 matches via Wap and SMS Alerts. They will be able to watch live stream of match highlights videos, watch previews and match round-ups, and download wallpapers and ringtones, anytime anywhere, with their handsets on both GSM and CDMA networks.
Reliance Mobile will also provide access to ICC rankings, archived content of previous tournaments, news and analysis of match/tournament/players, ball-by-ball score updates on Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and Data protocol. Customers will have the choice of downloading video clips and receiving video alerts over SMS.
Reliance Communications CEO and regional head South and West Akshay Kumar said that 3G will mean that more people will avail of the live streaming service for the World Cup.
“We launched this streaming service last year with the Twenty20 World Cup. However this time more people will be able to access it. The quality of video will be superior. While I cannot give a date, we would have launched our 3G services much before the World Cup in February,” Kumar added.
The company has bagged the license to offer 3G services in 13 key circles including Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. Reliance Mobile also offers pan-India CDMA and GSM Services across 24000 towns and 600,000 Indian villages serving over 115 million customers.
Kumar said that 3G will be rolled out in a phased manner across the circles. He declined to comment on pricing or deals done with content providers.
"Arpus will rise with the advent of 3G," he added.
In terns of marketing activities for the World Cup, the company will organise contests where prizes can be won. Different programmes will be done with channel and trade partners. The on-going trophy preview is one such activity and the company has roped in Syed Kirmani for the same.
ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said, “As we prepare for what will be a great celebration of the game at our flagship event next year, we are fortunate to have a group of top-class partners whose commitment to the game is unquestioned. Without that commitment we would not be in a position to help our 105 members grow the game as they do around the world. Through its commitment to and passion for the game, Reliance Mobile is helping to make our great sport even greater.”
Relay Worldwide India GM Mahesh Ranka expects marketing activities by the ICC partners to start by December. “Since it is in India, the decibel level will be higher. Having said that, ambush marketing will be a threat. The ICC’s inspectors will have to be at different venues keeping tabs on proceedings on the ground. That is because no company will want to let go off this opportunity,” he said.
