Short message service makes a hit

By Veronica Li

Be considerate. Turn off your phone, please. In some cases, however, people do need to contact others immediately, such as when parents forget to bring keys, or when relatives have gotten into an accident. Sending messages through mobile phones can help in these situations. Short message service (SMS) is a communication tool which allows mobile phone users to send short text or pictorial messages to others via their mobile handsets. On 3 December 2001, SMS became interoperable among six mobile phone networks: Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited, SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Limited, Sunday Communications Limited, Peoples Telephone Company Limited, New World Mobility and Hong Kong CSL Limited. In the past, users of different networks could not send text messages to each other. A spokesperson for Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited said SMS provides a more convenient way of communication for users. Said she: "After the launching of mobile numbers portability service in 1999, we hope to co-operate with each other for better communication service." The Telecommunications and Telecommunications Authority played an important role in launching this service successfully. It acted as a bridge between six network companies and dealt with the technical problems generated by the service. Mr. Anthony Wong, the director-general of the Telecommunications and Telecommunications Authority said, "The growth of interoperable SMS has been rapid in other countries like Japan and the Philippines. Hong Kong should not fall behind. "They have been running this service for two months; feedback has indicated that SMS is undoubtedly beneficial to network companies." According to the Office of the Telecommunications Authority, about 100,000 messages were sent per day in the first month after the announcement of the interoperable SMS system. The number increased to 150,000 messages on average in the second month.| "Network companies also discovered that by offering this new service, they could attract more customers and therefore generate extra profits," said Mr. Wong. For Hutchison Telecom, the number of messages being sent has increased fivefold. The company’s revenue will certainly increase. During the preparation of the service, they encountered a few problems, though. If messages are sent to other telecommunications networks, auto switching between the two networks occurs. "But Hong Kong is probably the place most difficult to facilitate auto switching, as different companies work on different platforms such as GSM, PCS and CDMA. Thus they need a central platform for auto switching. "The use of mobile numbers portability service has also complicated the platform building process,” said Mr. Wong. Due to these technical problems, they delayed the launch date of the service from April to December 2001. "The system works quite smoothly without much interruption now,” said Mr. Wong. On Christmas day in 2001, about 700,000 messages were sent through the interoperable SMS. On New Year's Day, nearly 1 million messages were sent. "And there was no serious text traffic jam problem on these two days. It shows that that the current system can handle a huge amount of transmissions a day," said he. Miss Ho Bik Wah, 19, has subscribed to SMS for nearly two years. She sends about 60 messages and pays about $28 per month. Miss Ho said, "In the past I seldom used such service. It was quite expensive and cost me $1 per message. Now the price is more acceptable." She feels SMS is a very convenient tool. "My friends can receive my text messages at anytime and anywhere. "Even if they are in a situation where they cannot talk on the phone, they can still receive my words immediately. "And phrases like 'I miss you', 'I love you' or 'I'm sorry' are difficult to say sometimes, so I prefer to use SMS instead," said Miss Ho. The spokesperson of Hutchison commented that SMS is a useful function during holidays. She said, "People can use the group cell function for seasonal greetings in festivals. They can send the same greeting like 'Merry Christmas' to all their friends at the same time. "Users can also download 'canned messages' from their network supplier and do not need to type in the text every time by themselves. It really saves a lot of time." Besides, Mr. Anthony Wong explained that the network suppliers had promised to check on the problem of junk messages, which may slow down the functionality of the phone. Moreover, he said that SMS could prepare users for the future 3G era. "When users get familiar with this extra service, they will gradually learn to use more functions provided by the network suppliers. "In the future, messaging services will be more than merely text. There will be multi-media messaging in the coming 3G era," said Prof. Louis Leung, an authority on new communication technologies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Yes, there are other messaging services coming. Enhanced messaging service, instant message service, and unified message service are all on the drawing boards. "Our Mobile ICQ service allows users to send SMS from the Web. So SMS is not bound to phone-to-phone only," said the spokesperson of Hutchison Telecom. Miss Ho believes the number voice messages she sends will reduce. She will rely more on text messages or even visual and audio files. "As you know, the functions of sending e-mails and sending SMS are similar. "But the mobile phone is more convenient than computers. Maybe one day, SMS will replace emails," said she.

Prices offered by six network suppliers

Different network suppliers have different pricing packages for short message service. How- ever, the supplier will charge the sender 50 cents for every message sent if the receiver is in a network different from the sender. Hutchison Telecommunications (Hong Kong) Limited: $28 for 100 messages. Sunday Communications Ltd.: $28 for 100 messages. Hong Kong CSL Limited: $38 for 120 messages, $68 for 300 messages or $88 for 400 messages. SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Limited: $50 for 200 messages. Peoples Telephone Company Limited: $20 for 70 messages, $35 for 140 messages, or $50 for 260 messages. New World Mobility; $1 per message. Prof. Louis Leung of the Chinese University expressed concern about the prices of SMS. He worries that six network suppliers will raise the price of the service together, so customers have to unwillingly accept the exploitation. "Though we cannot control their pricing policies because it is a free market, we can take action to intervene when all the suppliers plan to increase the price together," said Anthony Wong of the Telecommunications and Telecommunications Authority. Miss Ho Bik Wah said she now pays $28 for 100 messages. She commented that price of SMS now is very low. "When one needs to pay $100 or more on mobile services, he will not mind spending a few dollars more for a convenient and interesting service." She claims that some network suppliers do not charge the 50 cents cross-company SMS charge.

 

Next