Clickatell powers messaging for world assembly of 140 parliaments

Parliamentarian’s representing 140 countries leverage Clickatell SMS messaging to stay informed at their 118th annual meeting.

Cape Town, South Africa, Redwood City, CA: 30 April 2008 – Clickatell, global provider of messaging solutions, has provided the South African Parliament with an SMS alert service to support communication at the 118th assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in South Africa recently.

Founded in 1889, the IPU is the world organisation of parliaments, providing 140 countries with a platform for dialogue about global issues. The IPU

works for peace, the cooperation between peoples, and the firm establishment of representative democracy. It also supports and closely cooperates with the United Nations whose objectives it shares. Each year’s event is hosted in a different country. Last year, the host country was Switzerland. In 2006 it was Indonesia. This year, in a historical event, the South African parliament was one of the first countries in the Southern African Development Community region to host the assembly.

Under the theme, "Pushing back the frontiers of poverty", the Cape Town International Convention Centre was abuzz with a multitude of languages and nationalities as issues from climate change to maternal and new born child health are put under the spotlight.

Clickatell’s messaging service helped the South African parliament deliver timely notifications to these delegates, providing them with important information, reminders and alerts about the latest happenings at the conference. “Since the start of the conference, over 1,000 delegates descended on Cape Town. With most delegates using their overseas cell phones and roaming on the South African network, SMS presented the easiest, fastest and most cost effective way to stay in touch with each other,” says Pieter de Villiers, CEO of Clickatell.