Mobile music mosquito repellent

From mosquito repelling tones to personalised ringback music, Asian telcos are getting creative in the chase for download revenue streams.

Korean mobile operator SK Telecom has unveiled new service to turn the phone into a mobile mosquito repellent. For $2.50, users can download a sound file which is inaudible to the human ear but helps ward off mosquitoes within a metre radius, the firm said.

However, this "silent" melody consumes as much power as a normal ringtone so customers will need use it sparingly.

A ringback tone is what people dialling a telephone number hear between the time they finish entering the digits and when the call is answered. Telephone service providers worldwide all use the same, innocuous "ring, ring" sound to cover what would normally be silence.

Now, a small number of Asian cell phone service providers, including SK Telecom, are offering personalised ringback tones. Instead of ordinary ringing, subscribers can choose a Shania Twain song, for example, or even a recorded personal greeting for their callers to hear.

Franky Lai, chairman of WiseSpot, one of a growing number of companies that supply the technology, said: "Ringback tones add a new dimension of personalisation to the mobile communication experience."

Some carriers have added a muffled "ring, ring" sound to the track that's playing as a subtle reminder of what's going on. Replacing the familiar sound with a Paul McCartney song, for instance, could fool diallers into thinking they've been put on hold.

Besides SK Telecom, two Chinese carriers have introduced similar services last week. SK Telecom had signed up about five million subscribers for ringback tone services at the end of 2002, with average spending per user of about $1.50 a month.

The technology is going through the same metamorphosis as its cousin, the mobile phone ring tone, which has been moving from conventional chirps to snippets of songs. Sales of ring tones have generated revenue for mobile operators in Asia and Europe, and US sales of ring tones are beginning to pick up.

Suppliers of ringback tones say that similar to ring tones the technology gives carriers a way to differentiate themselves and bring in new sources of revenue.

The market for mobile downloads is set to soar in Asia, helped by the region's growing mobile penetration rates and the advent of multimedia handsets, says a market research firm.

Downloading mobile frills such as ring tones, Java games and wallpapers have grown from an insignificant fad five years ago into a $1.3bn industry, telecommunications analysts Pyramid Research said in a report from news agency AFP.

Ben Charney writes for CNET News.com and CNETAsia's Staff contributed to this article