Singapore makes inter-carrier MMS a reality

By Aloysius Choong

Singapore's mobile operators MobileOne (M1), SingTel Mobile and StarHub have inked an interoperability deal for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), the trio announced yesterday.

This means mobile phone users are now able to send and receive multimedia messages across the different networks - a level of co-operation which has yet to be seen in most countries, including the UK.

"The three operators have been working towards implementing inter-operator MMS in the shortest time possible for the benefit of mobile phone users," said Neil Montefiore, M1 CEO.

"This is an example of how cooperation, and not necessarily competition, among the operators will benefit all mobile phone users," said Lucas Chow, CEO of SingTel Mobile. Inter-operator MMS is an important step to drive take-up and usage of the service, he added.

M1 launched MMS in August, followed by SingTel in September and StarHub in October. The technology, which evolved from SMS text messaging, allows messages containing video, audio, pictures and animation to be exchanged between compatible handsets.

To encourage the use of the service, M1, SingTel and StarHub will also continue offering free sending of MMS messages. The operators, together with handset maker Nokia, are currently engaged in an eight-week advertising campaign to educate users on multimedia messaging.

Aloysius Choong writes for CNET Asia.