Universal multimedia messaging service interoperability among U.S. Tier 1 carriers moved closer to becoming reality with two agreements unveiled last week.
T-Mobile USA Inc. users can exchange pictures and video clips with subscribers of both Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Sprint Corp., the three carriers announced. While T-Mobile’s network largely has been MMS interoperable with both operators for months, the two announcements are the first official confirmation the networks have become fully interoperable.
“People want to expand their world of communications by allowing more people-including those with different wireless providers-to receive their text, instant and picture messages,” said Michael Gallelli, director of product management for T-Mobile USA.
In addition, Cingular announced it is MMS interoperable with every Tier 1 operator except Nextel Communications Inc. and has inked agreements with Leap Wireless International Inc. and U.S. Cellular Corp. Nextel is not MMS-interoperable with any other carrier, although the company said interoperability is “a top priority.”
Operators are finally making good on last October’s agreement to facilitate cross-network MMS, and the effort is paying off. Cingular and Verizon Wireless-the nation’s two largest carriers-said their networks became fully interoperable in January, and other nationwide carriers have issued similar announcements. It’s likely all U.S. operators will be MMS-interoperable by the end of the year.
Content usage measurement firm M:Metrics found that photo messaging among U.S. wireless users increased nearly 5 percent in March following the Cingular/Verizon announcement, even as other applications suffered post-holiday declines. Almost 13 million users sent photos from their handsets to other phones or e-mail addresses during the month, the report found.
“Consumers are responding positively to the relatively new ability to send photos across carrier networks,” Mark Donovan, M:Metrics senior analyst, said earlier this year. “Clearly, interoperability will facilitate the growing trend in the use of photo messaging.”
VeriSign Inc.’s LightSurf handles Sprint’s MMS services; Cingular and Verizon Wireless use Mobile 365 for MMS. T-Mobile handles its own MMS without a third party.
Canada’s four wireless carriers and mobile virtual network operator Virgin Mobile launched interoperable MMS services July 1 using an MMS interoperability platform from VeriSign.
In conjunction with the MMS announcements, T-Mobile USA also restructured its messaging pricing plans, unveiling three bundled rate plans for text, instant, picture and video messaging. Users can send any combination of 400 messages for $5 a month with the cheapest plan; the most expensive offering includes unlimited messaging off all types for $15 a month.
Suzanna Ellyn, a senior analyst of wireless services at Current Analysis, called the simplified plans competitively priced.
“These new messaging bundles do provide the carrier with better solutions to support its propensity for offering consumer-centric messaging devices,” Ellyn wrote in an intelligence report.
