SYDNEY, Australia-Telstra Corp. said it plans to launch a fixed short message service early next year. Telstra has a branded SMS-capable phone on sale in Australia for the service, it said.
“Next year’s launch of fixed SMS is set to revolutionize the way Australians communicate, putting the world of text messaging within reach of the 10.3 million households with fixed services,” said Lynda O’Grady, Telstra’s voice and convergence managing director. “With more than 100 million SMS already sent by Telstra customers each month, we anticipate fixed SMS will trigger a new wave of text messaging popularity.”
Telstra already offers a service that allows SMS messages sent from Telstra cell phones to be translated to voice messages on most Telstra home phones. The new service will allow home-phone users to send SMSs as well.
