Color Ring Back Tone (CRBT) is one of the most successful enhanced services for wireless, and now wireline, service providers. CRBT is a highly viral, self-propagating application that uses readily available content and can easily grow from $0 to billions in revenue in a few years. Since it is completely controlled and delivered by network-based signaling servers, CRBT has the advantage of allowing complete operator control with minimal customer and handset interaction.
How CRBT Works
To use CRBT, a customer (usually wireless) selects a specific song or audio file to play instead of the standard ring tone heard while a call is connecting. Revenue is generated through monthly CRBT subscription charges and a CRBT download fee whenever the customer selects a new song or audio file.
Case Study Highlight: Fast CRBT Growth for Guangdong Mobile
In 2003, China Mobile decided to offer commercial CRBT service free-of-charge on a trial basis in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, and Zhejiang with a view to growing its market share. Because Guangdong Mobile Communications Company Ltd. (Guangdong Mobile) is the largest provincial operator in China in terms of network scale and number of users, the success or failure of its projects is very significant. To ensure success in this case, Guangdong Mobile decided to build a CRBT service platform with provincial coverage, outstanding performance, and easy scalability. The first phase of the project anticipated 4.5 million CRBT users. Because of its rich hands-on experience in the field, Guangdong Mobile selected the branch of NEC based in China to undertake the entire system integration of its CRBT service. After detailed comparisons and repeated studies, NEC finally chose Dialogic® telecom components as the system hardware for Guangdong Mobile's CRBT service.
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