Telefonica de Espana SA’s cellular unit Telefonica Moviles has teamed up with Reuters Holdings Plc to launch a new service in Spain called Reuters Movistar, through which users of Telefonica’s MoviStar Groupe Speciale Mobile cellular phones will have access to financial information and news on their terminals courtesy of Reuters. Several terminal vendors have since expressed their intention to offer phones capable of providing this service. Commercial director for Telefonica Moviles Miguel Me nchen says the agreement with Reuters is evidence of the carrier’s commitment to offer Groupe Special Mobile users a new value-added service every month. For his part, managing director of Reuters Espana Christian Levesque said the service was a good example of Reuters’ determination to make the most of the latest technology in order to circulate financial information. MoviStar subscribers with compatible terminals will be able to consult a list created by Reuters that uses simplified codes to give information about the most important securities and bonds in Spain, international indices and all the securities quoted on Reuters’ international network, echoing the codes used by the international group for its screen services. The securities are organized in groups to make access to the data easier and cheaper. The service costs $0.55 before value-added tax, for each message received of up to 160 characters, while service request messages are free. Telefonica said 30% of its subscriber base of 350,000 Groupe Special Mobile users is currently consulting the information, both in Spain and, thanks to pacts with other European operators, abroad; this figure will rise when new terminals are launched on the market in the near future.
