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SCMP Reporter

Players in the telecommunications industry are calling for Hong Kong's mobile operators to ensure their networks interoperate for multimedia messaging service (MMS).

The Hong Kong Wireless Technology Industry Association urged the six dominant operators to adopt an open view in co-operating.

Its director of government and external affairs Norman Chan said: 'Just as with short messaging service [SMS], MMS will not become popular unless there is inter-operability across different networks.'

In December, Hong Kong's six GSM (global system for mobile communications) networks - Hutchison Telecom, CSL, SmarTone, Sunday, Peoples Telephone and New World Mobility - opened their networks to exchange SMS traffic. Previously, text messages could only be exchanged between users on the same network.

SMS usage has grown rapidly in Hong Kong, with huge numbers of text messages sent as seasonal greetings. On February 12 - the first day of the Year of the Horse - the local networks handled almost 850,000 messages.

Hong Kong Productivity Council principal consultant for mobile business solutions Lawrence Cheung Chi-chong said the operators should give a strong push to MMS as it would provide many business opportunities.

'I understand the latecomers always benefit most and inter-operability would enable mobile subscribers to easily switch to other networks,' Mr Cheung said.

'But we can see that the usage of MMS in the future will be as common as e-mail.'

Mr Cheung suggested users would soon be able to use multimedia messaging to check on their children while they were away from home.

'For personal usage, one could use it to check the situation at home. And outdoor workers can send instant reports with pictures and sounds back to the office,' he said.

Mr Chan said the association had expressed its concerns to government bodies, including the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (Ofta) and Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau. He said it might eventually seek help from Ofta.

'Certainly it would be effective if Ofta stepped in, just as it was last time with inter-operability in SMS services. But I believe it would be better that it can be achieved with the driving force coming from within the industry,' he said.

The association, set up in May last year, has about 150 members. They include the six telecommunications operators, handset manufacturers such as Nokia and Ericsson, wireless application developers, systems integrators and academic institutes.

All say Hong Kong is in need of content aggregators, acting as middlemen between the service operators and application developers.

This had already developed into successful businesses in Japan, where multimedia messaging is commonplace.

'Small application developers really need someone to represent them in dealing with the giants - the six mobile operators,' Mr Chan said.

The Hong Kong Productivity Council could help private companies hoping to become content aggregators.

'We cannot offer financial assistance but we can help them in co-ordination and give technical support in the kick-start stage,' he said.

However, the association and the council said MMS prices were too high and would hinder development.

Last month, CSL launched the world's first commercial MMS. Users pay HK$15 for downloading an animation. The monthly fee of HK$49 allows for one megabyte's worth of data, while HK$149 allows two megabytes. On top of this there are additional fees for wireless application protocol and general packet radio services.

'Though the price is too high for customers and only allows MMS exchange with subscribers of the same network, it is a start. We hope the others can launch MMS as soon as possible and so the price will come down,' Mr Cheung said.

Last week, SmarTone Telecommunications announced a cross-border MMS service, so subscribers could send photo messages to China Mobile users.

'Mobile phones are for enhancing communication. MMS is going to play an important part in that,' Mr Cheung said.



Body encourages unity on MMS