SAN JOSE, California, United States-Swedish mobile operators TeliaSonera and Vodafone Sweden have entered into a price battle over their recently launched multimedia message services (MMS) services. The newly merged TeliaSonera has set the pace by announcing prices that undercut Vodafone by nearly 20 percent.
In what appears to be an attempt to steal customers away from Vodafone Live, TeliaSonera subscribers can access the service free until mid-February 2003. After this period, users will be charged 0.42 euro (US$0.43) for each message, which can be up to 50 kilobits in size.
However, Vodafone is not expected to let TeliaSonera steal a march on the successful launch of its MMS-oriented Live service. The company, which currently charges 0.52 euro (US$0.53) per message sent, is expected to respond shortly. Pressure is also being applied by Tele2, which has stated its MMS service will be free until early March, although it has failed to announce pricing after that date.
