Mobiltel Bulgaria is Fifteenth Operator to Choose RealNetworks to Power Music Service

SALZBURG, Austria and SEATTLE, March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- RealNetworks®, Inc. (RNWK), the digital entertainment services company, transitioned Mobiltel Bulgaria's music service to the Real platform on March 10, 2010, adding all-you-can-eat functionality and continuing its strong momentum across Europe.  This is the third deployment under Real's 4-year agreement with mobilkom austria group (MAG), providing Mobiltel's 5.4 million subscribers with access to the most feature-forward mobile music service in Europe.

"RealNetworks is a global leader in mobile music and with its strong presence in Eastern Europe, is a perfect fit for MAG and Mobiltel," said Evgeni Karakanovsky, marketing data director for Mobiltel Bulgaria.  "We believe that our subscribers will be more likely to utilize mobile music—as we've seen happen with our sister company A1 in Austria—due to the increased simplicity and elegance of the interface and dual download capability."

Mobitel's migration to RealNetworks' music platform provides subscribers with flexibility and choice for downloading music to their mobile devices. By subscribing to the Music Unlimited package for just 9,90 BGN per-month Mobitel subscribers can download and sync music to their mobile phones from the PC. They can also download through WAP or Web stores, or from native apps residing on their handsets.

"Mobiltel is the market leader in Bulgaria—with 50% marketshare—and one of the most successful operators in Europe," said Andreas Spechtler, managing director, technology products and services, EMEA, RealNetworks. "We believe that we can help them unlock their potential to grow their mobile music subscriber base with our platform, and look forward to the opportunity to prove that."

Real also powers the music services that make mobile music available to hundreds of millions of subscribers in Europe and beyond, including mobilkom austria group's A1 in Austria and Si.Mobil in Slovenia; SFR in France; and Vodafone music stores in 9 countries, including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Greece, The Netherlands, Romania and Spain.

As a provider of music services for mobile operators, Real provides and hosts the technologies that enable subscribers to discover, download and listen to music on their mobile device and personal computer.  Real's music service is now deployed with 15 communications service providers in 15 countries around the world.

In total, Real's ASP services are currently available through 86 different mobile operators in 48 countries worldwide, making them available to 901.4 million subscribers.  Real offers mobile operators a comprehensive selection of mobile services including: Music; Video; personalisation features such as Ringtones, RBTs and Multimedia Ringback Services; and messaging services.

RNWK-G

ABOUT REALNETWORKS

RealNetworks, Inc. delivers digital entertainment services to consumers via PC, portable music player, home entertainment system or mobile phone.  Real created the streaming media category in 1995 and has continued to lead the market with pioneering products and services, including:  RealPlayer®, the first mainstream media application to enable the downloading and transfer of online video to mobile devices; the Rhapsody® digital music service, which delivers a catalog of more than 8 million songs to users at home, work and on-the-go; GameHouse.com, one of the premier casual games destinations on the Web; and a variety of mobile entertainment services, such as ringback tones, offered to consumers through leading wireless carriers around the world.  RealNetworks' corporate information is located at www.realnetworks.com/company.

ABOUT MOBILTEL

In July 2005 mobilkom austria group welcomed Bulgaria's Mobiltel as the newest member of the group. With the acquisition of 100% of the share capital by Telekom Austria in July 2005, one of the largest foreign investments in Austria's economic history was completed.

Mobiltel is the flagship of the Bulgarian mobile telecommunications industry. It is a highly profitable and professionally run enterprise. Mobiltel is the market leader in Bulgaria and one of the most successful mobile operators in Europe. The company is considered one of the most attractive employers in Bulgaria.

RealNetworks, RealArcade, Rhapsody, RealPlayer and the Real logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of RealNetworks, Inc. or its subsidiaries.  All other trademarks, names of actual companies and products mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE RealNetworks, Inc.