Joint-SMS feature: New toy for cellular users<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): You may find that cellular users in Indonesia
\nare busier with their handsets these days.<\/p>\n
They do not speak but have a particular look on their face
\nwhile their thumbs busily work the buttons on their
\ncommunications gadgets more frequently.<\/p>\n
They are enjoying a new facility where the three local
\noperators of mobile communications jointly provide access to the
\nshort message (SMS) feature.<\/p>\n
The joint-SMS feature allows customers from the three
\ndifferent global system for mobile (GSM) communications providers
\n(ProXL, Satelindo, Telkomsel) to communicate through SMS
\nmessages. Previously, customers could send messages only to
\npeople who subscribed to the same GSM provider, but the barriers
\nwere broken at the beginning of last week.<\/p>\n
Most users are fond of this new service as they can send SMS
\nmessages to more people though it sometimes consists of only an
\nirritating joke.<\/p>\n
Agung B. Laksono, general manager for value-added service of
\nPT Excelcomindo Pratama, which provides ProXL, said the new
\nfeature had created a new behavior among cellular users in
\ncertain respects.<\/p>\n
\"It creates an option in using the cellular phone. SMS is a
\nconvenient and cheap application. People will use the service to
\ninform their friends about something which does not need an
\ninstant response or confirmation.<\/p>\n
\"When receiving a message, recipients do not have to answer
\nany calls, especially if they are in the middle of a meeting,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
SMS is an inexpensive way to communicate. It just takes longer
\nto finish a message on the phone. Then messages can be sent to
\nany cellular phone in Indonesia at a very cheap rate compared if
\nyou were to dial up the recipient, particularly if it is long
\ndistance.<\/p>\n
Director of operations at Telkomsel Laurens J.M. Bulters said
\nTelkomsel users were even able to send SMS messages to overseas
\nusers who subscribe to operators which have signed a roaming
\nagreement with Telkomsel.<\/p>\n
The cost of a SMS message is Rp 350 (about 30 U.S. cents) for
\nProXL postpaid and prepaid services, while Satelindo charges Rp
\n200 a message for its postpaid Satelindo GSM customers and Rp 250
\na message for its prepaid Mentari users.<\/p>\n
Telkomsel charges Rp 250 a message for its postpaid KartuHalo
\nsubscribers and Rp 350 a message for its simPATI prepaid users.<\/p>\n
Each message is limited to 160 characters, due to the capacity
\nof most handsets, which is also in accordance with the capacity
\nof the server of each operator.<\/p>\n
Agung said the service had been technically possible for a
\nlong time, just like the voice connection, but was not introduced
\nsooner due to a low demand.<\/p>\n
\"The feature was introduced when we had a real demand for it,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
GSM operators have also waited for more proportional figures
\namong overall users. Customers at Telkomsel have reached 2.2
\nmillion, 850,000 at Excelcomindo and 1.3 million at Satelindo.<\/p>\n
Traffic<\/p>\n
The three GSM providers are optimistic that SMS traffic will
\ndramatically increase after the introduction of this new feature.<\/p>\n
Satelindo has boasted that this service greatly increased SMS
\ntraffic volume through its network to 45 million messages a
\nmonth, which has more than doubled.<\/p>\n
Excelcomindo has also estimated to see a similar figure, some
\n48 million per month, by the end of this year.<\/p>\n
\"SMS traffic has shown a significant increase at Excelcomindo.
\nThere were six million messages sent in early 2000, and that
\nfigure doubled in the first half, reaching 18 million by the end
\nof last year,\" said Agung.<\/p>\n
Telkomsel expects to see a significant increase in its SMS
\ntraffic this year.<\/p>\n
Data from the GSM association shows that SMS traffic in the
\nworld will total 25 billion messages this year, up over 66
\npercent from 15 million in 2000.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that the SMS service provides some 3 percent
\nto 5 percent of the overall revenue of a GSM operator.<\/p>\n
Content<\/p>\n
What do GSM users send when they use the SMS feature?<\/p>\n
There has been no research on this yet, but many users admit
\nthat they receive, send or forward jokes only.<\/p>\n
\"I got a message from a number that was not in my handset
\nmemory. When I checked my address book, I saw it belonged to an
\nacquaintance I met a long time ago. What irritated me was it was
\nonly junk,\" said Benny, a 27-year-old executive.<\/p>\n
He said he did not respond to the sender, but received more
\njunk SMS messages in the following days.<\/p>\n
\"For some people it is nice to receive any kind of message,
\njust to show that someone is thinking of them. But I think it
\nwould be much nicer if they didn't influence others to send
\nuseless jokes through the service. They could have sent a
\ngreeting instead,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Another user, Dicky, said he did not mind receiving any kind
\nof SMS message as he would be able to resend it to his other
\nfriends.<\/p>\n
\"It's fun to get SMS messages. Sometimes, when I get bored in
\na meeting, sending a SMS message is entertaining,\" he said.<\/p>\n
As Agung said, sending SMS messages has become a new type of
\nbehavior.<\/p>\n
Excelcomindo has published a \"dictionary\" to facilitate users
\nin sending SMS faster and easier. Many of the terms are familiar
\nto those who use chat rooms on the Internet, such as UAT (where
\nare you), BRT (be right there), ATM (at the moment), F2T (free to
\ntalk), ICQ (I seek you), F2F (face to face), JK (just kidding)
\nand TTFN (ta-ta for now).<\/p>\n
This behavior is, more or less, related with the lifestyle of
\ncellular phone users in Indonesia. More than half of some 4.2
\nmillion cellular phone users in Indonesia are youngsters.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Siemens recently revealed in a study that 77
\ncellular phone users carry their handsets during holidays. It
\nalso shows that 80 percent of them want convenience.<\/p>\n
So prepare yourself for various SMS messages. Again, it
\ndepends if you use this feature wisely and how you respond to
\nunneeded SMS messages.<\/p>\n
-- I. Christianto<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/joint-sms-feature-new-toy-for-cellular-users-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }