First SMS, now MMS: Multimedia mobile services

Press release
Fornebu
4 minute read
Telenor Mobil is the first mobile operator in Norway to launch the next generation's mobile messaging services: MMS. Thus, the time and technology is ripe for a combination of text, drawings, photographs, sound and short animations to feature on your mobile display. In a trial period until May 1st, it is free to send MMS, while the ordinary price will be NOK ten per message sent from a mobile phone.
The service is available for all Telenor Mobile customers with a MMS enabled handset. During the trial period, customers are given access to the service by sending an SMS to Telenor Mobil. Information about this is found on the Telenor Mobil website.

Mobile services that today consist of ordinary text messages will take on a whole new dimension. It will for instance be possible to send holiday snapshots directly to a friend's mobile phone. Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is heir to the regular text messaging service (SMS). MMS is a common standard supported by most handset producers.

An MMS can consist of text, image and sound in various combinations. This means that the amount of data in each message will differ greatly. With one set price of NOK ten per message, regardless of the amount of data, you will know exactly how much it costs to send a message. Receiving a message from another mobile user is free of charge.

Easy for the user
"We have chosen to set one price regardless of how much data the message contains and regardless of the customer's subscription form. We believe that sending a multimedia message should be as straight forward as sending a text message," says assistant Head of Information in Telenor Mobil, Esben Tuman Johnsen.

A multimedia message may be transmitted directly between two mobile phones, or as an information service in the way the text message is used today. Telenor Mobil will offer such MMS content services via both telenormobil.no and djuice.no, and is in a trial with a number of content providers, aiming for a launch on May 1st. For content services separate prices apply.

Mobile users without an MMS enabled handset will after May 1st instead receive a regular text message. They can then log on to Telenor Mobil's Internet site and view the message there. It will also be possible to send an MMS from these pages.