MMS reaches 100 networks

Mobile phones that can use Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) are now available on 100 networks around the world.

The MMS century landmark has been reached in under 12 months, Norway 's Telenor being the first to offer the service last March. Now the 100 MMS-enabled networks are in 47 countries across six continents, according to the latest EMC World Cellular Data Metrics figures.

Researchers estimate that after 10 years of SMS, each of the world's 793 million GSM users sends an average of one text message per day. Now that 20 per cent of all SMS-enabled networks also offer MMS, operators are looking at the newer technology as a way to boost how much each phone owner spends - the figure commonly known as ARPU (average revenue per user).

MMS allows the sending and receiving of photos, video clips and audio clips including polyphonic ringtones.

However, even though 30 countries have more than one operator offering MMS, interoperability remains a sticking point, as it was before SMS took off. Some countries, such as Australia, Singapore and the UK, have made multi-operator MMS advances, and EMC sees proper interoperability as a major issue for 2003.