Operators count on Euro 2004 and Olympics to boost MMS

European mobile operators hoping that MMS will boost their margins are counting on Euro 2004 and the Olympics to give their products a lift.

So far, MMS has proven a damp squib for the companies that hoped that it would take off like SMS and provide that magic boost to the bottom line and the good old ARPU (average revenue per user).

In the UK, 79 per cent of mobile users have never sent or received an MMS, according to NOP research done for network software producer Sicap. Admittedly, 45 per cent of them just don't have the kit; while another one per cent aren't even sure if they do or not.

For those who have sent and received MMS, 78 per cent have used it for pics of family and friends, 14 for sports clips, 13 for holiday postcards and 27 per cent for music clips. The top user is male, 15 to 24-years-old and lives in the north.

Only the music clips and football seem to offer the operators any potential for the day-in, day-out boost to the bottom line that they are praying for.

And they look with envy at the soaring take-up of MMS and 3G in South-East Asia, which was triggered by the World Cup in 2002.

Per-John Lundin, head of marketing at Sicap, said: "We still have a lot more to do as an industry to encourage consumers to embrace MMS in the same way as they have SMS."

Besides driving the handsets into the hands of the customers, Lundin says the services need to be "extremely user-friendly like Vodafone Live! But the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle is compelling content".

Sicap and its operator customers are counting on this summer's football and the Olympics to give them a compelling boost - so the world of sport had better be exciting.