The global traffic for multimedia messages (MMS) remains awfully low because of the high cost of sending it compared to SMS, a recent study conducted by a London-based research house showed.
In the December 2005 edition of Informa Telecoms & Media’s World Cellular Data Metrics, it was revealed that average price of sending a 30-kilobyte MMS, at $.37 (about R17), is still more than four times the cost of standard SMS or text message.
The report stated that while the price ratio narrowed slightly compared with 4.19 in December 2004, the high cost of sending MMS remains the key reason for continued disappointing traffic volumes.
The findings were based on data recorded for 234 operators worldwide, the research firm said.
"Pricing is fundamental to the success of MMS. Subscribers are still unwilling to pay the comparatively higher tariffs for MMS and until the price ratio with SMS narrows, traffic volumes will remain low," remarked Kester Mann, senior research analyst at Informa.
Mann added that while "interoperability, ease of use, handset penetration and service development are other important factors…pricing will remain key in the long term."
Global MMS traffic more than quadrupled in the year to September 2005. But the initial base was only small and over 280 operators have now deployed the service.
Only three operators — Verizon Wireless (USA), Sprint Nextel (USA), and Telcel (Mexico) — recorded MMS traffic volumes above 100 million messages in the third quarter of 2005, according to Informa.
China Mobile, the world’s largest operator, recorded total SMS traffic of 62.8 billion messages in same quarter, 800 times higher than its MMS traffic (78.6 million messages). The cost of sending an MMS through the operator’s network was {{MB:DR(ARTICLE:CONTENT):MB}}.11 in December 2005, compared to just {{MB:DR(ARTICLE:CONTENT):MB}}.001 per SMS. (Melvin G. Calimag)
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