Country snapshot : Hungary

Birthplace of our industry’s industrious globetrotting photographer ‘FUBAR’ JFK, Hungary came to be regarded as one of the most prosperous emerging European countries after the fall of communism back in 1989.

Indeed, my initial reaction after having visited it for the first time was that I was experiencing a dose of Übercapatalism, with well-known Brands competing for attention in the newly built shopping temples that would put many in richer countries to shame, together with casinos in practically every neighbourhood. I recall thinking that Lenin must me turning in his grave.

However, it would appear that Hungary’s fall in light of the global credit crisis has been just as swift as its rise, and it recently became the first European Union country to finalise an emergency rescue by securing $25 billion from the International Monetary Fund to avoid it going bankrupt.

Hungary has a population of about 10 million people, 42% of which have access to the internet at this time.

Pre-credit crunch, Hungary had the fifth largest payment card market in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of cards in issued. However, both the issue and use of credit cards are expected to slow down considerably this new era of austerity, making phone billing practically the only viable billing mechanism if you are to continue making money from such countries.

Indeed, Hungary was one of the first ex-communist countries to liberalise its telecoms sector and introduce pay-per-minute and pay-per-call premium rate phone billing, with rates to up to FL720 per minute/call billable. That’s about US$3.57 as I write, but this figure will probably decrease as the value of the Forint continues to tumble.

We serve the less expensive FL288/Min numbers to Pay-per-minute Hungarian surfers, and FL 432/Min. ones to all pay-per-access customers, all in their native language of Hungarian - considered to be one of the most difficult languages for speakers of English to learn well.

Hungary was one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world in the past decade, with its capital Budapest widely regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world. And as any red-blooded male who has visited there can testify, its women are not too shabby either!

The countless models in Budapest’s numerous sex-clubs bear witness to this, with a red-light area to rival that of Amsterdam. Sex sells, and Budapest knows it.
Another thing that struck me whilst I was there last time was the amount of couples openly kissing one another. Sign of a wonderful place I thought, and look forward to one day returning to this amorous country.

Country snapshot : Iceland

Seeking inspiration for the next country to cover as part of my range of country 'snapshots' was not too difficult. As Iceland's banking sector implodes, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has undiplomatically condemned the handling of the collapse of its banks and its failure to guarantee British savers' deposits; blaming the Government and describing it as "effectively illegal."

Furthermore, it has emerged that over a hundred U.K. local councils had more than £800m deposited in Icelandic bank accounts. Harsh words. Large numbers. Extraordinary times.

Iceland boasts the world's highest Internet penetration rate, which stands at an astonishing 84.8 percent of its population of just 300,000 people; thus confirming what we had long all suspected — hostile climates are great for our business!

Being located between North America and Europe, I have flown over Iceland several times, but have never had the opportunity to visit it. I was therefore delighted to learn a couple of years back that a webmaster gathering was to take place there, and so I made arrangements accordingly.

Turns out that a rape victim's help group learnt of our industry's forthcoming jaunt; and not only branded pornography as demeaning to women, but also likened us to drug traffickers and child molesters. Charming. Especially when one considers that (most) porn actually celebrates all women, unlike mainstream media, which does not.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the convention and its opponents made headline news in such a tiny country. This put pressure on Reykjavik's mayor to do something about it. This, in turn, lead to the Radisson Hotel Group cancelling our rooms and therefore the event — demonstrating breathtaking double standards and hypocrisy when one considers the money that they make from pay-per-view porn in their hotel rooms throughout the world — including in Iceland.

At this juncture of my snapshot, I would normally research what the credit card penetration levels are in their banking system. However, given that they no longer have one, this renders that particular statistic irrelevant anyway.

On a more positive note, their telecoms infrastructure is still alive and well — so if you want to start making money from these Internet obsessed people, then phone billing is no longer an option — it is a necessity.

Country snapshot : Spain

Since Spain is my current home, I write this particular country snapshot outlining its Internet and telecoms characteristics with a degree of practical experience.

Specifically, I live in the middle of nowhere; on a vacation island called Tenerife off the northern coast of Africa, which is actually 1600km away from mainland Spain, but administered by it.

Upon arrival here five years ago, I had no other alternative than to approach the state incumbent Telefonica for my Internet connection, which never arrived.

After eight months of waiting, we moved to another part of the island where it was installed the next day; reflecting a trend that I have noticed: service here tends to be either top-notch, or miserable — alas often the latter.

About 25 million Spaniards have access to the Internet at this time; some 63 percent of its 40 million strong population — and the web therefore features in most households.

However, as I have learnt the hard way, most Spanish people do not speak English; and why should they? It stands to reason therefore that if you are to start making more money from Spain, you should start communicating with them in their native language.

Doing so will help convert not only traffic from Spain itself, but also from the 20 predominately Latin American countries that speak Spanish as their primary language, not to mention the vast Hispanic market within the U.S. itself. It is estimated that there are approximately 500 million Spanish speakers worldwide, making it the third most spoken language after English and Chinese.

Remember though that card penetration in most of these countries is still relatively poor, so phone billing is a prerequisite if you are to start making money from these emerging markets.

As for Spain proper, whilst card usage here is more commonplace, the Spanish like the anonymity and convenience of paying you via a device that practically all of them have access to — the phone.

Despite being a Catholic country, Spain retains an overall tolerance to porn and remains the headquarters of one of adult's best known hardcore brands: Private. Born in the same year that I was way back in 1965, their magazine acted as the catalyst for my subsequent lifelong appreciation of hardcore erotica, and is still available at Spanish newsstands to this day.

As for being online, Spain has caught up with the rest of Europe and the surge in Internet usage whilst being based here has been noticeable; with the local PC store often being the busiest in town.

As Spain enters into a period of pronounced economic uncertainty, more Spanish people will be staying at home this winter to entertain themselves by checking out your web offerings.

Thankfully, a picture really does say more than a thousand words, but if you want to convert a curious Spanish surfer into a paying one, remember to do so en Español.

Country snapshot : Poland

When Poland first joined the European Union in 2004, many workers there left to work in other EU countries — particularly the UK — because of high unemployment; which was the second-highest Europe at that time.

However, with the advent of the credit-crunch overseas and rapid growth of the salaries and booming economy 'back home,' the exodus of Polish workers seems to be over: thus far in 2008, people who came back to Poland outnumbered those leaving the country.

The Poles have a justified reputation for working hard and demonstrate a keenness of spirit which seems to be sorely lacking in the U.K. and elsewhere.

Poland has a population of 38.5m, some 14m of which — or 36 percent — have access to the Internet at this time. Whilst the percentage of Polish Internet users is still lower than in Western Europe, it is growing at a fast and consistent rate.

Furthermore, the Polish payment card market is small but growing quickly. However, Polish consumers tend to primarily use their payment cards as cash acquisition tools, rather than for paying for goods and services directly at a POS terminal or over the Internet.

This might help explain the popularity of Password by Phone's phone billing solution, which communicates with these surfers in their native language of Polish — and because Poland has its own domestic pay-per-call infrastructure, payouts from there are higher than from most other countries.

Poland is considered to have one of the healthiest economies of the post-communist countries. Since the fall of communism, Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy of liberalising the economy and today stands out as a successful example of the transition from a state directed economy to a privately owned market economy.

To capitalize on this growth, you should include marketing to Poland as part of your globalization strategy.

Country snapshot : Belgium

guess the catalyst for this particular country snapshot was a rather unflattering thread that was recently posted on GFY entitled: What the hell is the point of Belgium?

As I write, the thread itself has drawn no conclusions, but instead had several references to chocolate, beer, waffles and Jean Claude Van Damme. Thus far, no-one has pointed out that Belgium is in fact a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters in its capital city of Brussels; as well as those of other major international organisations, including NATO.

Not that this instils any patriotism. I vaguely recall in a survey conducted a while back that something like seven out of ten Belgian youth wished they were a different nationality. And after having driven through it on countless occasions, I can concur: Belgium does seem to be spectacularly unspectacular. But, hey, it's not all bad: it's the only country in the world to have a fully lit freeway road network at night.

Belgium has a population of some 10.5m people; just over half of which have access to the Internet at this time.

Since the country is bilingual, you will need to communicate with these surfers in two languages, not just one, if Belgium is to be features as part of your globalization strategy.

Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north, with just over half of the population; and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels region, although officially bilingual, is mostly French-speaking.

With this in mind, Password by Phone serves both French and Dutch language texts to Belgium surfers and as with all countries, offers a 'revert to English' feature to capture any expatriates or businessmen visiting there.

Phone billing remains a popular way for Belgians to pay for web content, thanks in large part to the ease, convenience and anonymity of this "buy now, pay later" payment method.

As for credit and debit cards, the adoption of Maestro in Belgium is expected to increase transaction opportunities within Belgium for both consumers and merchants. Two operators, Visa and MasterCard (under the Maestro brand), continue to account for the majority of transactions across all sectors of the industry.

The number of financial cards has increased tremendously over the past two to three years in Belgium, reaching an all-time high in 2007. As most credit and debit cards are directly linked to a bank account, the major financial institutions benefit from the acquisition fees on all transactions; and these cards have become a prosperous revenue stream for the banking industry.

By offering both telephone and debit card billing in Dutch and en français you will be able to maximise your revenues from this small but relatively rich country.

Pay per minute billing launched!

Dialer history and PPM Billing - the future

Many webmasters old enough to remember the glory days of the classic ‘old school’ dialer tend do so with a certain degree of reminiscent nostalgia, not least since for many of those that deployed them in the early days of the web, it was one hell of a money machine.

Back then, when dial-up reigned supreme as the primary method of accessing the internet, surfers would be invited to circumvent AOL & Co by letting their modems connect directly to the internet via a premium rate telephone number, thus gaining instant access to the desired titillating content, which was not so freely available back then as it is now.

All was fine in theory : surfer’s usually got what they wanted and were more than happy to pay you using this buy now, pay later kind of billing.

However, in practice, this chapter in the dialer’s chequered history was relatively short-lived, partly due to increasing broadband penetration which rendered this kind of dialer obsolete, and partly due to a barrage of bad press after greedy and short-sighted crooks started to develop malicious variants that would then connect to a premium number every time its victims connected to the web – leading to horrendous phone bills for the scammed surfer, and disastrous PR for the dialer.

Perhaps partly due to this, surfers became increasingly wary before downloading any third party software onto their computers. Added to which, modern operating systems and free software would ensure that the message not to download such software got across to potential customers – a real turn-off for the turned-on surfer!

Thus the next chapter in the dialer’s turbulent history was born: the birth of the so-called ‘voice’ dialer. This too is powered by premium-rate phone numbers, but causes none of the headaches associated with its predecessor.

With a voice dialer, surfers see an on-screen call-to-action inviting them to call a premium-rate number. They are then granted immediate access to the member’s area for the time that the call connection is maintained. As soon as they hang up, they will no longer be able to access the content.

Smut searchers who like what they see and elect to pick up the phone are therefore paying you on a per-minute basis, which many industry observers believe will become more commonplace as we witness a shift away from the $29.90 monthly credit card subscription model to more of a pay-as-you-go one.

In an era of abundant free porn available via tubes and torrents, once surfers have found what floats their boat, they are essentially paying you for the convenience of not having to seek out the desired content elsewhere.

The amount of money you make with this form of micro-billing is totally content-driven – the more compelling and attractive the content, the longer the customer is likely to hang around, and therefore the more money you will make.

Bear in mind, your phone processor does not dictate the end-user costs, the various phone companies with whom they have interconnect agreements do. This is why the outpayments vary from country to country.

Given the ubiquity of the phone and cell phone worldwide, the voice dialer will not only enable you to make money on a global scale from surfers in developing countries that do not have a credit card, but also from those in developed ones who prefer the convienience and above all annonymity of paying you this way.

In conclusion, whilst the original dialer might have died, its successor is very much alive and kicking -and given the fact that more and more countries are introducing domestic premium rate pay-per-call billing, its future is looking very bright indeed.

Phone Billing : Pay Per Minute vs. ‘Buy now, enjoy later’

As we point out on our website, most of the world does not have a credit card. However, practically everyone has access to a phone or cell. With this is mind, it is important that you include phone billing as part of your processing portfolio.

There are two primary methods to employ phone billing, which this article aims to address : Pay-per-minute, whereby - as the name suggests - surfers pay you on a per minute basis, and ‘one shot’ billing, whereby the password ordering process generates the revenue : how much access time you then grant for said revenue is up to you.

Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages which we will now explore in greater detail.

Per-per-minute billing primarily only works in developed markets whereby the end-user has access to a broadband internet connection and has thus has access to a phone line and the internet simultaneously.

Surfers are invited to call a premium rate number which then grants them instant access to the desired member’s area for the time that the call connection is maintained : the moment they hang up, they lose connection to the desired web-content.

The hold-time and thus revenue generated with such billing is totally content driven : the more compelling the content, the longer the surfer is likely to hang around. Such a payment method makes for a perfect fit with VOD and livecam sites.

As anyone who has been inside a member area that floats their boat knows, time can really fly by - and this can result in connection times of half an hour or possibly much more.

As for the ‘buy now, enjoy later’ method on which PbP ‘classic’ is based, this works with ALL types of internet connection, including with dial-up which remains the primary method of connecting to the internet in the developing world. However, they first need to disconnect from the internet in order to free-up their phone line in order to make said call.

The ordering process to generate the password needed in order to gain access to the premium content is what generates the revenue – once ‘inside’, the billing clock is no longer ticking.

Thus surfers from developing countries simply note the password/number generated, and then reconnect to the internet and enter it accordingly. This method is also popular with surfers from developed countries, with some ordering their password from one computer, and then enjoying the content at a later stage from another.

This method of phone billing also makes for a great fit with dating sites : surfers need not worry about running up high phone bills since the hold time is fixed : however, once they have created their profile and enjoyed a day’s membership, they need to buy another password at a later stage in order to check their messages/winks etc. – in short, a fantastic recurring business model when used in association with compelling content.

When deciding which method of phone billing to deploy, operators of the classic pick and vid paysites should offer both. In an era of increasing market saturation and the abundance of free tube porn, the more options that you give surfers to pay you for the convenience of not having to search for their desired content elsewhere, the better.

Country snapshot : Zimbabwe

s part of my ongoing A-Z country snapshots highlighting the Internet and telecom characteristics of each and every country, Zimbabwe originally shared the same position as it does in our country drop-down list in terms of my keenness to write it.

But given the recent news airtime that this poor African country has recently been receiving after the presidential elections there earlier this year, I have decided to move it up the list accordingly.

For those of you who do not follow world events, Zimbabwe held a presidential election on March 21 of this year; the result of which at time of writing was still not confirmed – with many commentators believing that it was rigged by President Robert Mugabe who has held power there since 1980.

According to www.internetworldstats.com, about 1.2 million people in Zimbabwe, or just under 10 percent of its population, are currently online; with usage growth since 2000 an impressive 2,340 percent – which is almost on par with its inflation rate, which some economists predict could hit 1.5m percent!

The country – once a regional economic powerhouse – recently introduced a 200,000 dollar note so its citizens wouldn't need to carry wheelbarrows full of cash around with them.

Credit card penetration there is negligible and fraud associated with them rampant, making Zimbabwe an automatic candidate for your credit card processor's scrub list.

However, as with other developing countries, cell phone penetration levels here actually rival those in the developed ones. Furthermore, the country's backbone network is being upgraded, including fiber optic links which will also improve Internet connectivity.

So far, we have sold 1263 passwords to Zimbabwe and paid $745 in commissions to webmasters. Not huge numbers, admittedly, but they must be seen in the context of being useful extra money from a 'virgin' market who just so happens to also have English as its official language.

Remember, all the 1.2 million Zimbabweans who are currently online have access to your sites, and practically all of these will also have access to a phone or cell.

By not employing pay-per-call phone billing, you are depriving yourself of additional revenue from countries such as Zimbabwe, whose future can only get better.

Country snapshot : Israel

Being married to a Jewish princess, I have had the pleasure of travelling to Israel on more than one occasion. The first thing that struck me when I first visited there was the rampant black humor of which I am a loyal fan — I had never heard so many Jewish jokes in my entire life! The trait of not taking oneself too seriously came as a breath of fresh air, not least since we were living in Germany at the time — whose population arguably does take itself far too seriously!

Whilst having the world's hundredth largest population, with some 6.4 million inhabitants, Israel is a tech-savvy country in more ways than one. Not only was the processor in your computer probably developed there, but this is also the country that lays claim to having the highest percentage of home computers per capita anywhere in the world.

A recent study conducted by the Bank of Israel shows that in Israel the use of payment cards has surged in several sectors due to the recent economic boom there. Online shopping, thanks to a 72 percent penetration rate in household Internet access, has played an important role in this, along with the increasing number of merchants that accept payment cards.

Technological advancement has brought its own contribution, allowing for the launch of new products on the market, including prepaid cards and smart cards. The issuer of Leumi Visa credit cards recently reported that the number of valid cards at the end of last year grew by 14 percent relative to the previous year.

However, as with most developed markets, many Israelis are often reluctant to use their plastic friends online for fear of fraud, identity theft, or plain fear of being found out by an over-inquisitive wife — and believe me, I know what I am talking about!

This might help account for why our pay-per-call phone billing solution is popular with surfers from there: No forms; no paper trial; just easy and anonymous access to the forbidden fruits of your member's area for a time of your choosing.

And on the subject of phones, Jackie Mason's hilarious cell phone sketch simply reinforces what I had long suspected — the Israelis are a nation of cell phone junkies! This addiction was symbolically cast in stone back in 1998 in the shape of a cellular phone carved out of basalt rock which adorns the gravestone of Guy Akrish at the Ashkelon cemetery in southern Israel.

It therefore stands to reason that you should include phone processing as part of your billing armory in order to maximize your revenues from Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.

The Israelis' love affair with the telephone has never waned, a fact of which I am harshly reminded of every month when our phone bill arrives. I have learnt the hard way as to why Jewish mothers make great parole officers — it is because they never let anyone finish a sentence!

Country snapshot : Jamaica

The first thing that struck me about Jamaica when my wife and I decided to celebrate the millennium there was the number of people that owned a cell phone — and this was nearly a decade ago.

Despite living in what most of us would deem to be abject poverty, a mobile device was and is a "must have" for most people living there. The same is mirrored in the rest of the developing world; with cell phone penetration often rivaling or even outstripping those of more developed countries.

Jamaica has a modern, fully liberalized telecoms system, which has seen phenomenal expansion in recent years. Former monopoly full-service provider, Cable and Wireless Jamaica Ltd (CWJ) now faces competition from Digicel and Oceanic Digital.

As for Jamaica's online presence, according to InternetWorldStats.com, a surprising 39.4 percent — or just over a million — of its 2.7m inhabitants are already surfing the fixed line Internet; with no doubt many others surfing the mobile Internet using their cells.

E-commerce is of growing significance to Jamaica. For some local companies (particularly utilities) there is the option to pay bills on-line or via credit card using a telephone. Many Jamaicans who possess a credit card denominated in hard currency (U.S. dollars) frequently make online purchases from U.S. and other overseas companies.

So, when selling to Jamaicans, be sure to include both credit card and phone billing solutions as part of your processing portfolio.

As for language, no translation is needed since English remains the official language of Jamaica.

Tourism remains Jamaica's leading foreign exchange earner and is set to benefit from more than 18,000 additional hotel rooms, which will be developed in multi-billion dollar projects to be undertaken over the next five years. This will increase the job opportunities and buying power of Jamaicans — and make a great venue for an industry conference; I'll see you there :-)

Check out my new speaking blog!

http://moneytalksineverylanguage.blogspot.com/

Introducing PenisTrainingWorld

Country snapshot : Finland

The Republic of Finland, situated in the Scandinavian portion of Northern Europe, was recently rated the best country to live in by Reader’s Digest.

Bordered by Sweden, Russia and Norway, Finland has a population of about 5.3 million people, and yet covers an area of some 130,000 square miles making it the least densely populated country in the European Union.

The Finns were way ahead of the curve in internet adoption when the web first took off about a decade ago. Hardly surprising, when you consider the long, dark and cold winters they have to endure!

One area in which Finland has established itself as a world class player is in the mobile space. Anyone not heard of Nokia? What you might not know is that that the seeds for this leading global brand were sown in a small Finnish town bearing the same name.

According to the company’s own estimates there are already two billion mobile phone owners in the world and that every third mobile phone sold in the world is a Nokia.

This has made some native shareholders very rich indeed - creating a small army of “Nokia millionaires”, thus revealing a key characteristic of the Finnish character: Reserve. The Finns regard the flagrant flouting of wealth as somewhat vulgar, no brashness or showing-off here!

Finland has also been a swift developer and adopter of mobile technologies such as Pay-by-Phone for vending machines and SMS ticketing for public transport.

It was also amongst one of the world’s first countries to adopt domestic premium rate billing, for which we pay you $3.60 every time a Finnish surfer buys a password with his or her Nokia or regular phone to view your (or our) web content.

It’s not the largest of countries, but is certainly one of the more tech-savvy ones.


According to the World Audit Democracy profile, Finland is the freest nation in the world in terms of civil liberties, freedom of the press and low corruption levels.

Just pity about the weather…

Country snapshot : Netherlands

Sometimes referred to as Holland which actually only constitutes a part of it, the Netherlands is one of my favourite countries. It has a cosmopolitan and international feel to it, and even old people there seem to radiate a youthful exuberance sorely lacking elsewhere. Maybe it’s something to do with all that biking. The bike-park outside Amsterdam Central Station just has to be seen to be believed!

As for their coffee, it is second to none - which is why I always make a point of visiting a coffeeshop whenever I am there :-)

My only criticism would be the landscape, most of which is flat - making it spectacularly unspectacular.

The Dutch are a net-savvy lot who according to InternetWorldStats.com enjoy the highest internet penetration level anywhere in the world at an astonishing 87.8% of their 16.5 million strong population.

Astute business people, the Dutch are also on the cutting edge on many of the emerging technologies in both the fixed line and mobile internet.

The Netherlands is world famous for its tolerant attitude towards both drugs and porn, making it a hedonistical heaven that draws millions to Amsterdam’s red light district every year, with extreme niches such as scat and bestiality openly on display in shop windows – so perhaps Amsterdam should not be the first choice when deciding where to go for a family holiday!

Inevitably, thanks to this tolerance, the Netherlands became a magnet for ‘extreme’ webmasters, due to the historically liberal laws concerning the hosting of such material there. This, however, is due to be outlawed soon due to an EU ruling.

As for Dutch consumers, I am not sure what floats their boat, but what I do know is that despite relatively high levels of credit and debit card ownership, the Dutch love to pay for regular web porn using their phone or cell. A Dutch webmaster friend of mine recently pointed out to me that this is probably because the Dutch prefer the anonymity and convenience of this “buy now, pay later” way of purchasing premium web content.

Another fascinating trait of the Dutch are their linguist abilities, with most seeming able to speak some level of German, English and of course their native Dutch. And unlike in neighbouring Germany, US and UK movies are shown in original soundtrack with subtitles, which undoubtedly helps.

Being half British and half German myself, I always make a point of speaking English when I am there since I always seem to get a warmer reception when so doing, and I put this down to football!

Phonesex - the original money maker

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Mention phonesex to some webmasters and they give you a look of pity, shake their heads in disbelief and mutter something along the lines of 'so yesterday'.

But they miss the point. Phonesex works. And in an era of increasing market saturation, non-compete upsells like Phonesex can drastically help improve your bottom line.

One of the reasons for this is that of perception from the surfer’s viewpoint.

By that, I mean the tube generation automatically assume that adult web content should be ‘for free’. Conversely, it is widely accepted and understood that phonesex never is.

Moreover, the telephone remains an inherently intimate medium that delivers good ‘ole ‘one to one’ with none of countless distractions of the noisy internet!

What is more, there are a whole army of people out there who are hardcore devotees of aural pleasure – who instead of just watching pics and vids want the added kick of talking dirty, or listening to other do the same.

With this in mind, a leading phonesex program have recently released recordings of genuine steamy phones sessions which customers had previously agreed could be recorded and published. It would appear that User Generated Content has even arrived in the relatively conservative world of phone erotica!

Furthermore, repeat callers will make your income snowball. Phonesex is addictive, making it sticky in more ways that one - with customers constantly coming back for more, puns intended.

When it comes to paying, customers in US and other developed markets usually call a toll-free number and their credit card details are captured so that they can buy time.

Elsewhere, premium numbers are employed whereby callers pay a higher than normal per-minute charge which they pay to their phone or cell company in the usual way. This money is then split between that company, your phone sponsor and you, the promoter of the number.

In countries like India where local premium billing is not possible, then prospective customers are invited to dial a regular IDD (International Direct Dial) call to get his or her kicks. The phone company to which the call was sent then pays a proportion of the call revenue.

When employed in conjunction with products such as pre-recorded Arabic stories, webmasters can make money from a global audience, practically all of which have access to a phone or cell.

Such numbers can then easily be promoted on blogs, tours, member areas, galleries – anywhere that gets eyeballs

And when it comes to product, it really is a case of ‘if it ain’t broke, don’ fix it’.

Phonesex, arguably the first form of e-commerce, has always sold well and I suspect always will

Country snapshot : Kazakhstan

A few years ago, most people were scarcely aware it its existence, but that is no more, as ‘Borat’ has managed to move Kazakhstan into our collective consciousness.

It is the world’s ninth largest country and covers an area larger than all of the countries in Western Europe combined; and yet has a population of only about 15.2 million.

Kazakhstan is the world’s largest landlocked country; and is bordered by Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and China. The capital is Astana.

According to www.internetworldstats.com, 1,247,000 people, or 8.2 percent of the population, are already online. Usage growth from 2000-2007 was an impressive 1,681 percent, with plenty of room of continued exponential growth.

In tandem with the above, credit card ownership is set to dramatically increase in the next few years, with several major banks aggressively promoting the virtues of plastic to this virgin market.

As with so many developing countries, the mobile cell phone network is vastly superior to its fixed-line cousin.

So far, we have paid $2,637.49 to webmasters who have sold passwords to surfers from there, and we expect to see the figure rise dramatically as the market matures.

Whilst not the official state language, Russian is more widely understood there than English, which is why we serve a Russian call-to-action to surfers from Kazakhstan who wish to pay for web content by means of their phone – and we plan to add Kazakh later this year.

As some markets in the developed world are beginning to show signs of having reached critical mass, countries like Kazakhstan represent an enormous opportunity for content owners to start making some serious money from the hot new Asian growth markets.

With this in mind, we are inviting all our partners to advertise their websites free on a new portal that we will be advertising extensively via the Hotbird TV satellite, whose footprint rather conveniently includes Borat’s home country of Kazakhstan.

Chinese internet

The interweb sure is a great place to meet new people! Like Jon...