BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An innovative technology developed by telecom start-up DataMi is powering a nationwide pilot offer allowing a select group of AT&T consumers to use Trove, a top digital news aggregator, and view many news stories without impacting their data plan limits for a limited time period. The offer is available on select Android phones.
The DataMi-led project is built to take advantage of AT&T’s new Sponsored Data program. The Massachusetts-based company plans to roll out a suite of products later this year to make mobile data more cost efficient for eligible consumers and businesses. The limited AT&T pilot is designed to further demonstrate the value of data sponsorship in the area of media, specifically news-related content, and will provide additional insights for developing future offers.
“We believe there is an enormous opportunity to work with mobility networks in a way that benefits users and creates significant new business opportunities for big users of data,” said DataMi CEO Harjot Saluja. “Companies that distribute media and other content, employers whose workforces depend on cellular networks, even educational institutions in the U.S. and around the world can benefit from this new approach. This pilot is a valuable demonstration working with great news content from our partners at Trove.”
“Thanks to DataMi’s technology, select AT&T wireless customers can enjoy Trove and view many articles without impacting their data plan limits,” said Vijay Ravindran, CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Trove. “Consumers are hungry for mobile content, and this approach is helping us understand how we can bring them another step closer to discovering something new.”
DataMi’s technology platform allows marketers, content producers, employers and carriers to pay the cost of data use that would otherwise impact a subscriber’s monthly data plan. DataMi integrates this sponsored data functionality into existing mobile websites and applications across mobile devices and operating systems, saving time and resources for building and supporting sponsored data-based offers.
Much as newspapers, magazines and television rely upon advertising revenues to support the cost of delivering their content to consumers, digital media companies will now be able to find sponsors who can provide incentives to customers through data sponsorship of branded content experiences.
By leveraging telecom networks efficiently, DataMi’s technology makes sponsored data accessible to even small companies, who can adopt the technology quickly and begin to offer their customers sponsored data. The company is one of the first technology providers of its kind to fully integrate with multiple, major U.S. carriers to address the opportunity created by the latest developments in 4G network architecture, such as sponsored data.
*AT&T’s Sponsored Data program is available to post-paid and session-based customers who have an active AT&T data plan, a 4G (HSPA+ and LTE) capable device, and access the Sponsored Data over AT&T’s domestic wireless network. Data usage that flows through a proxy may be deducted from your data plan allowance. Other limitations and restrictions may apply. See the FAQ tab for details. http://www.att.com/att/sponsoreddata/en/index.html#fbid=_2tOL4Gx4sG
About DataMi
DataMi is a telecom startup specializing in solutions that help consumers and enterprises get more out of their data. Spun out of Princeton University and led by veteran telecom executive Harjot Saluja, DataMi’s proprietary technology leverages unused wireless capacity and makes telecommunications more cost efficient for consumers, wireless carriers, brands, marketers, employers, content producers and app developers. Among several solutions offered by the company, DataMi facilitates sponsored data, allowing consumers to save money with toll-free mobile data and marketers to offer content to users that doesn’t affect their monthly phone bills. With DataMi’s technology, consumers can also purchase affordable, à la carte data outside of a traditional data plan.
The company’s Advisor Council includes media investor and veteran journalist Marcus Brauchli; John Cioffi, Founder and CEO of Amati and ASSIA; Adam Drobot, President of Telcordia Advanced Technologies; Russell Hsing, former Executive Director of Bellcore; Reed Hundt, former FCC Chairman and Intel Board member; Strauss Zelnick, Founder and CEO, ZelnickMedia; Vijay Ravindran, Chief Digital Officer, Graham Holdings Company and CEO, Trove; longtime Sprint executive Iyad Tarazi; and Bryan Rutberg, CEO, Rutberg & Company. DataMi’s Board of Directors includes Donald Hwang, Wistron Corporation; Mung Chiang, Professor and Director of the Keller Center at Princeton University; Jeff Samberg, Managing Director of Acadia Woods Partners; and Wim Sweldens, cofounder and CEO of Kiswe Mobile.
About Trove
Trove is a digital news aggregator that collects stories from thousands of sources across the web and makes it easy for users to filter out everything except what interests them most. Users who are passionate about a topic can also become curators for those stories, and other users can find streams of content and people they want to follow. The app also incorporates social elements, making it easy to see what stories friends are reading. Trove is a unit of Graham Holdings Co., a NYSE-listed education and media company.
