SINGAPORE : SMSs and call-ins during live competitions and charity shows are on the rise, and that is good news for telecom operators; after all, data or non-voiced services are becoming a key revenue generator for them.
So whether Taufik or Sylvester comes up tops, they fully support the call to vote during the Singapore Idol final showdown on Wednesday.
The demand for data and non-voice services is on the rise, and it is not just because more people are sending SMSs or MMSs to their friends.
There has also been an increase in TV charity shows like NKF and live competitions such as Singapore Idol, which encourage SMSs.
So it is no surprise that all three local telcos are busy preparing for Wednesday's Singapore Idol final.
Voting will take place within a two-hour time period before the results are tabulated and then announced.
This could pose a potential logistical nightmare for the telcos.
Patrick Scodeller, chief technical officer at MobileOne, said, "The key for us is pre-planning. For example tomorrow's show at the Indoor Stadium, the Idol show, that is a very heavy concentration of people in the stadium -- about 10,000 or so.
"For us it's an end-to-end planning process. What we will then do is we will increase the radio capacity in the base stations that surround the Indoor the Stadium. We will configure those base stations specifically to carry SMS traffic a lot, lot more of it."
It doesn't start, or end, there.
All telcos will then have to route all calls and information through their networks to the tabulating centre.
And they are putting their technical team on standby to help ensure everything goes smoothly.
"For example tomorrow in the Indoor Stadium there are about over 10 base stations serving that area alone. There is a standby team that will be in that area. In the control centre its manned 24x7, so there are people on duty at all time," Mr Scodeller said.
"Tomorrow the operations people will specifically be looking at the SMS Centre and virtually sort of a hands on maintenance on that to ensure that nothing goes wrong; and yes, they all have redundancy -- it's all built in, we try to solve and try to plan for every contingency."
All that preparation goes to show just how important the telcos view their data and non-voice services.
SingTel says these services contributed around 19 percent to its bottom line this year, up 4 percent on year.
M1 says these services contributed around 17 percent to its total revenue for the first nine months of this year alone.
And for StarHub non-voice services revenue contributed 15.7 percent of its bottom line, as at 30 September.
With the success of Singapore Idol, the telcos will be looking for further growth in this area. - CNA
i can read all these for myself in cna, sti, zaobao and watever other news sites
Singapore Idol fever builds up at Singapore Indoor Stadium
SINGAPORE : The first Singapore Idol will be crowned at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Wednesday.
After almost six months of capturing the imagination of more than three million viewers, Taufik Batisah and Sylvester Sim are on the home stretch.
For a week now, Taufik and Sylvester have been so focused on preparing for this that they only managed three hours of sleep each day.
Taufik said: "I do not want to forget my lyrics. If you go on stage, you forget your lyrics and you start blabbering or you just pause or something without saying anything, that is my greatest fear."
It has been over eight hours of rehearsals on Tuesday for the last 11 contestants who have been reunited for the Grand Finals.
This includes make-overs, clothes fittings and hairstyling.
Slyvester said: "The jouney is going to end. I want to thank them for their love and support that they have given me throughout the last six months. They have given me a lot. So I'm going to give them a good show, I'm going to give them my best and you can expect nothing else but the best from Sly."
Also relishing the chance to give of their best are 40 students from Victoria Junior College choir who will be accompanying the finalists.
And to accommodate them and the orchestra, the set designer have had to make some adjustments.
Mr Fuji Quek, Set Designer at MediaCorp Studios, said: "The challenge is I've got to work around the clock so we actually, because of time limitation, actually set in at midnight to the wee hours of the morning so that we can hand over to the technical people to do their sound, hook up and the lights focusing."
Those who did no manage to get their hands on the coveted tickets were happy just to wait around to catch a glimpse of their Idols.
Idol supporters may have only one to two hours to send in their votes on Wednesday. Still, some one million votes are expected when the lines are open.
A total of 1.1M votes were made - Causing overloading
Stars (VIPs) that went
President of Republic of SG
Glenda Chong
Jeff Wang
Sharon Au
....
