Mobily Launches Mobile Baby™ Service for Transmitting Sonograms to Subscribers' Mobile Phones

Mobily is the first mobile operator worldwide enabling parents to receive and send ultrasound scans wirelessly to their friends, family and loved ones

SAN DIEGO and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Saudi Arabian telecommunications company Mobily and Great Connection Inc., creator of the innovative Mobile Baby™ service, announced the launch of the first mobile medical imaging service that enables ultrasound stills, 3D images and video clips to be sent directly from an ultrasound machine to a mobile device. Mobile Baby™ is a new service offered to Mobily network subscribers, as well as a pioneering initiative to enhance pre-natal healthcare through immediate availability and low-cost transmission of high-quality images and video clips from the womb.

Mobily is the first mobile operator to make the pioneering Mobile Baby mobile health (m-health) service available to subscribers. The application is compatible with any ultrasound machine and enables high-quality, 2D and 3D images and video to be delivered to any mobile device via MMS and email. In addition to offering a new and enticing service so that parents-to-be can share images with family and friends, this application will also enable doctors and specialists to analyze sonograms within seconds, from wherever they are in the world.

Khalid Al Kaf, Chief Executive Officer at Mobily, said, "The high adoption of mobile technology in Saudi Arabia provides a direct and wide-reaching platform for applications that promote health and welfare across the Kingdom. The Mobile Baby service is available today, and we look forward to growing our relationship with Great Connection and other application developers to bring more m-health applications to market in the future."

"Approximately 153 billion ultrasound images are taken every year worldwide, and many of these parents-to-be want to share the pictures and video with loved ones," said Asa Nordgren, CEO, Great Connection Inc. "Sometimes, there are complications that require a second opinion from a specialist. With Mobile Baby, these sonograms can be received anywhere in the world within seconds, whether by family and friends or medical practitioners. We intend the application to promote better pre-natal care to even the most remote areas, and we are proud to be pioneering this area of wireless health with Mobily in Saudi Arabia. By the end of the year, we plan to make Mobile Baby available in many more countries, as well as introduce more m-health innovation from our company."

Mobily and Great Connection have collaborated to introduce Mobile Baby with facilitation from Qualcomm Incorporated. A leading developer and innovator of wireless technologies and services, Qualcomm is working with a diverse ecosystem of companies worldwide, including Great Connection and Mobily in Saudi Arabia, to promote health monitoring and diagnosis services over wireless networks and using smartphone applications.

"Mobile Baby exemplifies the type of next-generation services that improve the quality of life and integrate into daily critical activities," said Jihad Srage, Qualcomm's Vice President and President, Middle East and Africa. "Qualcomm is developing a dynamic regional ecosystem that can bring innovative wireless health services to market. In providing this service to Saudi consumers, Mobily and Great Connection have made a significant achievement."

The Mobile Baby application by Great Connection was first introduced in May 2009 with Mama Mia, Scandinavia's largest private women's and child health service provider. It will be showcased as a mobile application in association with Mobily at Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona, Spain.

About Mobily

Mobily, the brand name of Etihad Etisalat, took its first step in becoming the Kingdom's monopoly-breaking mobile operator when it won a tender against five other competing consortiums in the summer of 2004. In November of 2008, Mobily acquired Zajil International Telecommunications for US$21.3 million before the company announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth US$400 million to buy Bayanat Al Oula – one of two licensed data communication operators in the Kingdom. By April 2008, Mobily concluded its acquisition of Bayanat.

Mobily has the largest active mobile broadband base in the Middle East and North Africa region, last reported (FY 2010) as 2.3 million active subscribers, who consume more than one gigabyte of data a month. Mobily covers more than 587 regions/cities/areas in the Kingdom with HSPA+/HSPA, representing a population coverage rate of 92%. Along with sister company Etisalat of the United Arab Emirates, Mobily was the first operator to launch the iPhone 3G regionally and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the company also was the first operator in the Kingdom to offer consumers BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) (May 2007).

For more details, please visit: www.mobily.com.sa

About Great Connection

Great Connection Inc. is a privately owned company at the intersection of wireless technology and healthcare. Great Connection mobilizes ultrasound and x-ray images by sending them from any imaging modality to any mobile device. Consumers and patients get high-quality medical images that they can print, store, publish or send to family and friends, or to doctors for a second opinion. Doctors get remote access to images, cost efficient storage and they can send images to referring physicians. Great Connection patent-pending technology, The Dicom Mobilizer™, is an accessory to any ultrasound system or diagnostic software. The first service based on this technology, Mobile Baby™, was launched in Scandinavia in 2009.  The service sends video clips, 3D and still images of unborn babies to expecting parents and doctors. Great Connection is based in San Diego, USA and Stockholm, Sweden.  For more information, visit us at www.greatconnection.se

SOURCE Great Connection Inc.; Mobily