MMS New Year messages trebled from last year

BANGKOK: -- Sending New Year messages through a "multimedia message service" (MMS) -- an advanced mobile phone technology in transmitting pictures and texts -- has become increasingly popular among Thai people, with an almost 300 per cent increase from last year, according to a report by mobile phone business operators.

Figures tallied during the two-day Dec 31-Jan 1 New Year timeframe show a total of 640,000 New Years' messages comprising photos and texts with greetings or blessings were sent through a MMS service provided by Advanced Info Service (AIS), a 295 per cent increase compared to an overall 160,000 messages sent during the same period last year.

AIS has registered an overall 16 million mobile phone numbers so far, holding the largest market share.

Meanwhile sending the New Year messages via the AIS 'Short Message Service' (SMS) system increased from 20 million last year to 29 million this year, or a 46 per cent rise, the report said.

Other mobile phone service operators also reported increased use of MMS messages by their customers. TA Orange Ltd said it recorded some 8 million MMS messages sent via its service this year, compared to about 5 million in 2005.

Orange has registered 4.5 million mobile phone numbers so far.

A budget-conscious charge averaging 3 baht/minute was the main reason for mobile phone users to opt for MMS in sending new year blessings, said Orange executives.

Meanwhile, Hutchison CAT Wireless Multimedia, another mobile phone service company, reported that during the recent New Year period an overall 10,000 MMS messages were sent through the company's Hutch MMS service, up approximately four times from last year.

--TNA 2006-01-04

Perhaps the increase in the number of phones capable of MMS has something to do with this?