Telecoms firm hopes Amy will supplant Google search

Simon Bristow

HULL telecoms firm KC says it can help people to answer difficult quiz questions or find out the latest football scores, for the price of a 1 text.

The company has launched Text Amy, named after city-born aviation pioneer Amy Johnson, which aims to answer almost any query within 10 minutes.

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KC said it wanted people to try the service as an alternative to conducting internet research through the world’s most popular search engine, Google.

It said it would be able to answer questions such as:

n What was George Michael’s first solo hit?

n How many calories in a Big Mac?

n Who was the voice of Princess Fiona in the Shrek movies?

n What are the opening hours of the B&Q store in Hull?

Steve Allbones, general manager of publishing services for KC, said: “We’re all used to using text messaging to stay in touch with friends and family, and the Text Amy service combines the immediacy and convenience of texting with a search-engine style question and answer service that saves people the trouble of having to trawl the internet for an answer themselves.

“So next time you need a fast answer, don’t Google it or phone a friend – text Amy instead.”

Texts can be sent to 118288 and will cost 1 plus the mobile network’s standard charge for a text message.

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KC will shortly begin offering landline, mobile phone and internet services are together in “bundles” to customers in Hull for the first time after a relaxing of regulations by regulator Ofcom to allow a better deal for consumers.

However, other telecoms firms claimed the move would further entrench KC’s dominance of the Hull market. Unlike other parts of the UK covered by BT, the network infrastructure in Hull is owned by KC, and the costs of buying into its technology to access a relatively small market is seen as prohibitive by other providers.

Bundles, which combine a number of communications products for a single charge, have been available in other parts of the UK for more than a year after Ofcom removed restrictions applied to BT.

Johnson achieved world fame in 1930 when she became the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia.

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