Asia Pacific Watch

MMS debuts in Singapore

SINGAPORE -- MobileOne Asia (M1), Singapore's second-largest mobile phone operator, kicked off its MMS service early last month. MMS allows mobile phone users to exchange messages containing graphics, photos and audio clips, besides text, and is considered a successor to the hugely successful SMS.

M1's MMS service was initially free during August. From September 2002, each outgoing message will cost $0.28 (SG$0.50) to $0.68 (SG$1.20), depending on the size of the message. Only users of MMS-enabled mobile phones such as Sony Ericsson's T68i and Nokia 7650 would be able to send and receive messages. Those not having such mobile phones would be sent a message or prompted to read their multimedia messages on M1's Web site. Messages can also be sent to email accounts using MMS.

M1 has now joined Hong Kong's CSL and Orange, as well as China Mobile on the mainland, who began offering their services earlier this year. Subscribers of Hong Kong's CSL and the mainland's China Mobile can also exchange multimedia messages across the two networks, as a roaming agreement had already been established in May.