Cellular operators expect MMS traffic to increase by 20%

Cellular operators expect MMS traffic to increase by 20%

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Three local cellular operators expect to see a 20 percent
increase in multimedia messaging service (MMS) traffic as
cellular phone users are now able to send cross-operator
multimedia messages.

PT Telekomunikasi Selular's (Telkomsel) vice president for
cellular partnership, Ahmad Sentosa, said on Tuesday that his
company expected to see monthly MMS traffic increase to 700,000
bits this year, from 500,000 bits last year.

MMS is a service that enables cellular phone users to send
text, voice and pictures. It can work only with general packet
radio service (GPRS)-supported cellular phones.

"I think our expectation is reasonable as cellular phone users
are now able to send cross-operator multimedia messages," said
Ahmad.

The cross-operator agreement was signed on Tuesday by PT
Telkomsel, PT Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo) and PT
Excelcomindo Pratama.

Under the agreement, the three firms will charge post-paid
proXL, Matrix and IM3, and kartuHALO customers Rp 1,000 (about 11
U.S. cents per 50-kilobit multimedia message, while prepaid
proXL, Mentari and IM3, and SimPati customers have to pay Rp
1,250 for sending a similar sized message.

A picture contains between 10 to 40 kilobits depending on the
amount of pixels.

Satelindo's vice president for product development Trias Kater
Kartasasmita shared the same optimism, saying: "I expect our
monthly MMS traffic to double this year, from 400,000 bit last
year."

Excelcom's general manager for marketing product development,
Erik ten Have, is also optimistic the cross-operator agreement
will boost the MMS traffic, but he dared not make a projection of
the increase in the firm's MMS traffic. Last year, the firm sent
150,000 bits of MMS monthly.

"It (MMS) is not as easy as SMS. The price, the functionality
and the setup are different from that of SMS. We will need to
educate the public more about the use of MMS," said ten Have.

Some analysts believe MMS will have difficulty in gaining
popularity in the country as people mostly use cellular phones
for conversation rather than sending data. The number of SMS sent
reached 9 million per day last year.