AR RAHMAN COLLABORATES WITH LEBARA

TO LAUNCH EXCLUSIVE RINGTONE

Lebara, the global leader in providing high quality, low-cost international mobile services, launched its new mobile portal, Lebara Music at a star-studded celebrity bash with musical legend, AR Rahman and a host of celebrities. The event took place on Saturday 24^th July 2010, following the Lebara Jai Ho AR Rahman: ‘The Journey Home’ Tour 2010.

Lebara Music adds a new layer of personalisation to the company’s recently launched mobile portal, which currently provides regional news for the Nigerian, Indian, Pakistani, Arabic, Filipino and Polish communities. Lebara also announced an exciting three-year collaboration with Oscar-winning composer, AR Rahman, which kicked off with the release of the official ‘Lebara Tune’, an exclusive ringtone composed by the legend himself.

The announcement was made by CEO Ratheesh Yoganathan and AR Rahman at the Lebara VIP after party at the IndigO2, following the maestro’s hugely successful concert at the O2. Amongst the guests who walked the ‘Lebara Blue Carpet’ to join in the celebrations were Laila Rouass (Footballers Wives, Strictly Come Dancing), Nitin Ganatra (Eastenders), Nina Wadia (Eastenders), Himesh Patel (Eastenders), Bollywood star Dalip Tahil (Bombay Dreams, Evita), Ray Panthaki (It’s A Wonderful Afterlife) Jan Uddin (Shank) and Kiss FM’s DJ Neev.

Lebara Chief Executive Officer, Ratheesan Yoganathan said: “Lebara’s goal is to help communities stay connected wherever they are in the world. Music cuts through the boundaries of age, geography and culture so it’s logical for us to bring this to our users. As one of the few musicians to have crossed cultural boundaries we are honoured to partner with musical legend, AR Rahman.”

Lebara has partnered with leading mobile music and technology provider, IMImobile, to offer customers an impressive portfolio of music to UK audiences that includes more than 40,000 ringtones and over two million full tracks from Universal Music UK, EMI, Warner, Sony Music, Ministry of Sound and [PIAS].

The exclusive AR Rahman composition is the latest addition to a rich selection of well-known regional artists that includes Piolo Pascual (Phillipines), 2Face Ibidia (Nigeria), Atif Aslam (Pakistan), Iwona Wegrowska (Poland), as well as songs from major Bollywood movies including Raavan, 3Idiots, Khatta Meetha and Kites to name but a few.

In addition, the partnership with AR Rahman will allow customers access to over 150 songs and tones of the artist’s greatest hits including Tere Bina, Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha and the global smash hit Jai Ho! from the Oscar-laden movie Slumdog Millionaire

The ‘Lebara Tune’ will be available to Lebara customers as a free ringtone for a limited period, downloadable via http://uk.lebara.mobi (the mobile portal). It is also available via iTunes for a small fee. All proceeds from this will go to The AR Rahman Foundation, which provides world class, state-of-the-art infrastructure and education to underprivileged children in India.

Talking about the Lebara Tune, AR Rahman said: “I’m proud to be working with Lebara and hope customers enjoy it. I look forward to creating more music for the company over the next three years.”

This year Lebara has solidified its presence in the music space with its exclusive sponsorship of the UK Asian Music Awards and the prestigious MOBO Awards, as well as sponsorship of Rahman’s UK Tour.