Mobile Tornado Group plc (AIM : MBT), a leading provider of instant communications for mobile, has today announced an exclusive partnership with NECO, a supplier of emergency, safety and security products, to deliver Push to Talk (PTT) mobile communications services into the South African market.

NECO has invested heavily in the PTT market and has formed a new division called Instacom. This partnership with Mobile Tornado will enable a wide range of South African organisations, from both the public and private sector including the emergency services, to benefit from a variety of PTT, Push to Locate and Push to Alert applications allowing them to communicate with their employees more effectively and efficiently than when using conventional mobile services and private mobile radio.

Nellis Basson, director of Instacom said: “Until now, we have provided our customers with a range of two-way radio and tracking systems, but Push to Talk will take this offering to a whole new level. It means that we can give our customers more choice and provide them with new communications solutions.”

Instacom’s customers include the emergency services and security companies where reliable communications can often mean the difference between life and death in many cases. Mobile Tornado’s PTT services allow these organisations to communicate with staff no matter where they are, and there are also additional personal health and safety benefits, as this technology not only pin points the location of lone workers, it also allows them to send distress alerts when significant events or major issues arise.

Jeremy Fenn, managing director, Mobile Tornado Group plc said:

“We are delighted to put this agreement in place and it represents the first territory where we have signed up to an exclusive relationship. We are confident that the commitments Neco have made to us and their market will give us a great opportunity to establish our platform in one of the fastest developing mobile communications markets in the world. Our service has already been adopted by a major South African mobile operator, and with our experience of delivering similar services into other countries around the world, we are committed to assisting our partner in establishing the leading PTT service in South Africa.”

Mobile Tornado’s patented Internet Protocol Radio Service (IPRS) technology has been successfully deployed in networks around the world.  The suite of IP-based, OMA standards-compliant, services provide real time, ‘always-on’, bandwidth-efficient communications across a range of mobile networks and devices, including compatibility with forthcoming LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4G mobile networks.