Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Wireless Giants Open the Border for Text Messaging

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 14:04:42 -0500

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20030124/bs_nf/20565

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Business - NewsFactor

Wireless Giants Open the Border for Text Messaging

38 minutes ago

Add Business - NewsFactor to My Yahoo!

Jay Wrolstad
, Wireless.NewsFactor.com

Wireless carriers in the United States and Canada are reaching out to each other through a new text-messaging pact. On Thursday, the major players in both countries launched commercial inter-carrier messaging services that let customers use their mobile phones to exchange text messages with their peers to the north or south.

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This hands-across-the-border agreement will further drive short message
service (SMS) traffic and revenue, which have grown by leaps and bounds
since U.S. carriers instituted an inter-carrier agreement of their own
earlier this year, Verizon Wireless spokesperson Jeffrey Nelson told NewsFactor.

"SMS really took off after U.S. carriers offered interoperability, and
we are experiencing double-digit growth every month," Nelson said. He
cited increased functionality of mobile phones and improved SMS user
experience as contributing to this growth.

Crowded Bandwagon

Canada's four national service providers -- Bell Mobility, Microcell Solutions (Fido), Rogers AT&T Wireless and Telus Mobility -- have agreed to offer the service. Other operators, including Aliant Mobility, Manitoba
Telecom Services (MTS) and SaskTel Mobility regional carriers, are following suit.

Participating carriers in the United States currently include AT&T Wireless (NYSE: AWE - news),
Cingular, Nextel (Nasdaq: NXTL - news), Sprint PCS (NYSE: PCS - news), T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.

Each carrier is expected to handle its own billing, with price plans
ranging from per-message charges to flat-fee SMS bundles.

Today Canada, Tomorrow the World

The pact with Canadian operators serves as the first
step toward meeting the demand for global inter-carrier messaging
services that will eventually include multimedia messaging, AT&T Wireless spokesperson Ritch Blasi told NewsFactor.

AT&T Wireless has seen a 300 percent increase in
text messaging since the introduction of U.S. interoperability. "It
represents a good portion of our data revenue," Blasi said.

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It is no secret that text messaging is huge among wireless customers who
enjoy sending and receiving the short, often clever notes, especially in Europe
and parts of Asia. Yankee Group analyst Linda Barrabee told NewsFactor
that the United States is playing catch-up with Europe, where SMS is a US$12
billion market compared with "several hundred million" in North America.

Nice Neighbors

"Agreements like this one further the idea of SMS ubiquity and will
certainly fuel growth," Barrabee said. "Messaging is viral; carriers need
roaming to create value for their customers who want to send messages
without wondering if the person receiving them is on the same network."

SMS is widely recognized as a service favored by hip, younger customers
for "chatting" with their friends, but both Nelson and Blasi said it has
been adopted as a business tool as well, especially among members of the mobile
workforce.

Phenomenon in the Making

Canadian carriers, like their American counterparts, have experienced a
phenomenal increase in SMS traffic, according to Marc Choma of the
Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. He told NewsFactor
that the number of text messages sent has soared to 21 million per month
in December from 10 million last March, following an inter-carrier
agreement in that country.

While he could not specify the amount of wireless communications traffic
between the two nations, Choma noted that 90 percent of Canadians live
close to the U.S. border, and that all of the Canadian carriers already
have roaming agreements with U.S. operators.

"I think this will be pretty big," Verizon's Nelson said. "I expect that
traffic across the border will provide a boost to our messaging
business."

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