Vodafone UK will launch a new tariff giving Pay As You Talk customers exceptional value, with unlimited free calls and texts all weekend.

Pay As You Talk customers who spend GBP5.00 during the week will get free calls to any UK network and texts all weekend, while those who just spend ВЈ2.50 will receive free texts for the whole weekend. And as an added bonus for Vodafone customers, the weekend will start at 7:30 on Friday night.

Reaction to the offer has been extremely positive. Customers have indicated that ‘Free Weekends’ now ranks top of all pre-pay offers as it is easy-to-understand, provides a great deal on both calls and texts, and can be combined with other offers such as Stop the Clock.

Tim Yates, Director of Vodafone’s Consumer Business Unit, says “With Free Weekends we are re-addressing the balance for Pay As You Talk customers and showing Vodafone’s passion to give customers good value.

“It also sees Vodafone become the first mobile network to reward its customers on a weekly rather than a monthly basis which fits with the profile of Pay As You Talk customers, who traditionally tend to budget week-by-week. Too often promotions offered don’t reflect how people actually use their phones, but Vodafone has taken this into account when designing this offer.”

Free Weekends follows other recent value initiatives for Vodafone customers including Vodafone Stop The Clock where customers pay for just three minutes but can talk for up to an hour.

Socceroo Lucas Neill today thanked the Australian public for its incredible support during the team’s campaign in Germany.

Despite the dramatic end to round two of the competition, Neill received more than 2000 HeroMessagesВ® from fans showing their support following the loss to Italy on Tuesday morning.

More than 31,000 HeroMessages were sent during the Socceroo’s campaign in Germany.

Describing the whole situation since the end of the game as overwhelming, Neill has been buoyed by the support from home.

“The last few days have been an emotional rollercoaster for me and the whole team,” Neill commented.

“To know that so many people have taken the time to personally send me a message of support has helped soften the blow of the result, but it will still take some time to get over.”

“It is great to know that despite the result, the whole country was behind us, and we truly appreciate every word of support we have received. Thank you Australia!”

Telstra spokesperson Warwick Ponder said that the support from the Australian fans had prompted Telstra to keep the HeroMessage service open.

“Due to an overwhelming response to Lucas and the rest of the team, Telstra has decided to extend the HeroMessage service for another week, allowing sports fans to show the Socceroos that they are behind them no matter what the result,” Mr Ponder said.

Football Federation Australia’s Head of Commercial Operations, John O’Sullivan thanked Telstra for their support.

“FFA understands that this is the first time Telstra has rolled out HeroMessage for a single sport and football is proud to have been chosen.”

HIGHLIGHT MESSAGES FOR LUCAS NEILL:

* Be proud Lucas! U didn’t deserve to go out like that. I’ve just cried for
an hour straight at seeing your face after the decision. Your my fav &
always will be
Sender: Natalie

* Dishonesty and unfair play is not ur burden to carry-strength, dignity,
a dedication is what makes u truly a remarkable and deserving player-NEVER
GIVE IN!!! xoxo
Sender: Arlene

* When you are tired and weary
and a long way from home
You can reach for Australia
and you shall not walk alone.
Sender: SD

* Lucas Neill seeing your face on the screen made by eyes brim with tears.
You’re a fantastic player nad have outstanding defence. I feel so much
sympathy for you
Sender: Joanna

* Don’t be sad for something you can’t control. You can’t control the mistakes
of others. You are our man of the series and our hero. Be proud, stand tall.
Sender: Donna

* LUCAS Keep your chin up – you’ve made a legend of yourself, and no Spanish
referee will ever remove the memory of your courage and class from our hearts.
Sender: David

* Lucas neill-how special r u?U have scored so many life long fans…Dont
worry bout that BAD call, u should b so proud of urself. u will b captain
sum day. kal
Sender: Kal

* Can’t sleep but sweetie – U R a CHAMP! U have done us all proud! Even tho
u wear number 2, U will always be my number ONE! Chin up & C U down under
soon xxxx
Sender: Kylie

* A few months ago I’d never heard of socceroos. Now behind tired eyes I’m checking out the competition. My husband is proud. I’m a Lucas groupie. Good luck.
Sender: Peri

Australians can continue to send the Socceroos a message by logging onto www.heromessage.telstra.com or sending their message by SMS/MMS to 0428 MY HERO (standard SMS / MMS rates apply).

Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) and Dallah Telecom, an affiliate of Dallah Al Baraka Group, a Middle Eastern content provider and a new media licensee of the 2006 FIFA World Cup TM, announced today they have signed an agreement to jointly provide mobile operators in the Middle East and North Africa with a fully hosted turnkey mobile multimedia portal solution. This project will enable the new media coverage of the 2006 FIFA World Cupв„ў in the region and will allow more football fans to interactively experience and enjoy the most exciting and decisive moments of all 64 matches on their mobile phones.

Thanks to this solution, supporters will be able to:

* receive SMS alerts on all games (goals, events, results) and MMS images and videos,
* browse a Wap portal with the games of the day (news, images, videos),
* consult a 2002 games retrospective,
* find group information,
* be informed on results,
* receive video highlights, by download (goals and events) or by streaming (games and daily summaries).

The service is available in English, French and Arabic.

In this cooperation, Dallah Telecom provides the content and Alcatel provides its technical solution known as “Mobile Kiosk”. Mobile Kiosk is a full turnkey solution that allows content aggregation and service delivery in a hosted and operated mode. It will enable Dallah Telecom to distribute its exclusive new media content of the 2006 FIFA World Cupв„ў to mobile operators in seven countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, and Jordan. This is the first deployment of Alcatel’s Mobile Kiosk solution in a multi-operator, multi-country context. Addressing 25 million potential users, the project, will also increase mobile data usage in the region.

The turnkey solution provided to Dallah Telecom includes design of the services (story board, look and feel), deployment of the platforms, customization and integration with operators (SMS-C, MMS-C, Wap gateway and billing), monitoring, as well as publishing during the event.

The solution is fully hosted, operated and integrated by Alcatel’s Regional Competence Center in Portugal. Drawing on its extensive expertise on Mobile Kiosk in Portugal, the Center provides a team of local managed solution experts as well as a set of local services to help operators and their partners.

Mr. Amr Kamel, CEO of Dallah Telecom declared; “Alcatel’s leadership in advanced video and mobile multimedia services, confirms the company as a key partner for this project. Today football through mobile is the ultimate mass-market entertainment in this region. The Alcatel solution will allow us to freely and cost-effectively create, shape, format, and distribute news, images and videos content either downloaded or streamed on mobile handsets. With Alcatel as a technical partner, we are confident that our innovative multimedia mobile portal will be a true success.”

“Alcatel’s involvement in this project is a prime showcase of our capability to deliver, new value through new media for sports and entertainment to content owners and service providers worldwide,” stated Marc Rouanne, chief operating officer of Alcatel’s mobile communications activities. “Alcatel’s turnkey Mobile Kiosk solution will enable more football fans to experience the excitement of the 2006 FIFA World Cupв„ў on their mobile phones whenever and wherever they want”.

Alcatel’s Mobile Kiosk solution is already successfully powering more than 250 companies in Western Europe and in Africa and Middle East allowing operators to boost data usage and to open their network to local content providers, enterprises and communities. More than 80 mobile operators in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America have already adopted Alcatel’s video and multimedia solutions to enable their mobile video, music and live TV services.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup GermanyTM is being held from June 9th to July 9th, 2006.