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At A Glance

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m-STARS initially entered the market in the year 1999 and became the first company to offer mobile banking in Indonesia by partnering with Smart Trust’s STK platform. The platform enabled non repudiation security and authentication. In the year 2000 m-STARS launched the application with the biggest local bank, Bank Central Asia, while partnering with one of the current top three telecommunications operator in Indonesia, PT. Excelcomindo Pratama (XL), to offer a mobile version of all current banking services similar to what was offered then at the ATMs except for cash withdrawals. The menu included balance inquiry, transfers between accounts, and utilities payments. The project set new business standards by introducing the fee-based business model to the telecommunications operator partner. Mobile banking also provided higher security and market penetration compared to internet banking at that time. Intended for banking convenience, BCA Internet Banking catered to the high-end individual bankers without sacrificing security.

The platform was also designed so that even merchants can sell content when users access it. It was only in 2001 that premium charging for the receipt of premium content was possible. With this knowledge and little competition during that time, m-STARS pioneered in creating the first VAS programs in Indonesia. One of the first successful programs was together with Indosat’s new IM3 launch where m-STARS held a SMS Quiz and secured their position in Indosat’s STK menu providing generic content until 2004. Continuous R&D and innovation was done to offer exciting programs to other Telco partners and securing long term partnerships. Since then m-STARS has been a recognized name in the SMS VAS industry, receiving awards such as top 5 in Telkomsel, Most Reliable in Indosat and Most Innovative in XL.

Realizing the high penetration rates of internet and mobile in 2006, m-STARS explored its potential in digital community building. Communities started building through the various content offering m-STARS was providing at that time. m-STARS then started developing platforms through the internet to create a scenario where users can interact with the content and with other users accessing the application. LiLO was then created as a form of social networking combined with online gaming. Communities influenced by the internet can sign in and create virtual communities by interacting with other players within the application. Revenue is generated from advertisers looking for an alternative media to spend on and receive added value such proper targeting and profiling of its audience for maximum response rates.

In the same year LiLO was created, m-STARS also began development on NexxG, an online music portal designed catering to music communities. Users who subscribe to the website are able to preview and download music-related content. The industry’s inability to properly protect music licensing rights in Indonesia brought about a decline to businesses pertaining to music label and music publishing. A solution m-STARS developed to respond to the current music industry was Dr.M a digital music label where a digital rights management tool was incorporated involving the separate delivery of the music content and the key used to access the content. The project remains to be incubated until this time before its official launch under a new name, Popmaya.

One of m-STARS current focus has been Mobile Advertising, a personal, permission-based, non-spamming, targeted mobile marketing communication tool. Users register to receive ads and provide their profile in exchange for receiving benefits with each ad received. For the last year, m-STARS has been aggressively building and educating the market by exclusively helping its Telco partners develop and market its Mobile Advertising products and inventories. Currently m-STARS acts as one of 3 appointed re-sellers of Telkomsel’s Kartu Fress,a subsidiary of Kartu As Simpati pre-installed with ad-funded content. By the end of 2008 Kartu Fress subscribers reached a little over 1,5 million audiences. In Indosat (I-Klan), XL and Esia, m-STARS act as an exclusive mobile partner in the Mobile Advertising platform development and sales, therefore receive a share for every mobile ad inventory sold. In total, active profiled audience has reached 2,8 million audiences, and as a mobile ad publisher in the market m-STARS continues to develop other ad inventories outside the Telco channel. m-STARS created new ad inventories when it launched XL SMILE, an Excelcomindo-branded On Device Portal. The downloadable mobile application is in the form of a browses that allows users to access different kinds of content from text to audio and video through a GPRS connectivity. Inside, add banners and adfunded content were the new inventories created and sold.

m-STARS reached full circle by returning to creating another mobile banking service. In April 3, 2009 m-STARS launched Motion, a bank-based mobile payment system that enables users to do remote debit payments. The idea behind Motion derived from m-STARS’s vision to provide a suite of mobile services that encompass the benefits of mobile devices being the 7th Mass Media. One of the benefits in this case is by turning mobile phones into a payment gateway. Unlike Premium Business where purchases are limited to content and other digital items, Motion provides a more comprehensive payment system supported by a solid industry and a financial institution. This allows users to purchase other items in a more convenient way, enhancing mobile commerce. Payments done through Motion were also non repudiated and authentic because the mobile devices are registered and payments made are confirmed and validated by entering the user’s PIN via SMS. The separate delivery of information when purchasing items online contributed to the security and authentication. Motion partnered with Bank Negara Indonesia, the third-largest government-owned retail bank in Indonesia who has an aligned vision with m-STARS to go mobile.