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The dotMobi Advisory Group (MAG) today announced the formation of the Mobile Internet in Developing Countries task force. The MAG initiated task force, comprises private and public sector organisations, collaborating to:

• assess market requirements and service availability in developing countries,
• assess localisation strategies and regional partnerships,
• develop relevant business models,
• explore funding approaches, and
• recommend mobile web best-practices.

The goal of the task force is to bring valuable new communications, content, and commerce to developing countries using .mobi domains and solutions.

The Library of Congress, the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States and the world's largest library, has joined the MAG as a Foundation Sponsor member and is Chair for the task force. Kevin Novak, manager of Web Services at the Library of Congress and MAG Task Force Chair, said, "With more than 111 million Internet users accessing our content annually, the Library of Congress wants to ensure its media and content are also available to mobile Internet users around the globe."

Michael J. O'Farrell, Chair and Executive Director of the dotMobi Advisory Group, said, "Our mission for the Mobile Internet in Developing Countries task force is to make demonstrable improvements in communications by leveraging .mobi domains, open standards policies and best-practice solutions for the mobile web. According to the GSM Association's recent Universal Access study, mobile networks now cover 80% of the world's population. That number is expected to reach 90% by 2010. With this enormous infrastructure in place, the task force can ensure that mobile web solutions delivered to developing countries are localized, self-sustaining and relevant to each community with services ranging from culture to education to healthcare, climate, and commerce."

Trey Harvin, CEO of dotMobi, the company behind the .mobi Internet address, said, "The .mobi domain empowers people by giving them to access information and knowledge via low-cost mobile phones where there is no broadband infrastructure. This also allows them to become more active contributors to the economic and technological development of their respective countries. This MAG task force is timely and beneficial for the mobile web economy because it will go a long way towards further increasing mobile Internet adoption in developing countries."

The MAG Mobile Internet in Developing Countries task force has an open invitation for all organisations to contribute to this important initiative by joining the MAG. For more information, contact Wendy Holloway, MAG Association Manager, at wendy.hollaway@advisorygroup.mobi

About the dotMobi Advisory Group
The dotMobi Advisory Group (MAG) is a dotMobi accredited independent not-for-profit industry forum with the goal of ensuring that the dotMobi Top Level Domain (.mobi) is operated in the best interests of the global dotMobi community and the Internet at large. The MAG explores the dotMobi technical style guides and best practices, domain policies and commercialisation initiatives, providing policy advice to dotMobi through the Policy Advisory Board (PAB). The MAG enables its members to keep in touch with market trends and understand, assess and prioritise the needs of the mobile Internet community and acts as a vehicle for mobile industry stakeholders to network and voice their opinions and ideas for the betterment of the mobile Internet experience. For more information and to join the MAG, go to http://advisorygroup.mobi

dotMobi Advisory Group contact:
Simi Grosman
Marketing Services
dotMobi Advisory Group
Phone: + 1 416 822 7262
Email: simi.grosman@advisorygroup.mobi

About dotMobi

Headquartered in Dublin, dotMobi - a wholly owned subsidiary of Afilias Limited - is a worldwide leader in enabling the development & discovery of quality mobile content through innovative services, in turn helping businesses and individuals reach the world's billions of mobile phone users. dotMobi spurs mobile industry innovation by giving content providers the tools they need to ensure the Web will work on mobile phones with speed, accuracy and relevant content. (Learn More)

Related topics: DNS, Registry Services, Mobile, Top-Level Domains