NEW ORLEANS-Carriers’ efforts to increase wireless data revenues took a big step forward this week at CTIA Wireless 2005 as the nation’s two largest carriers quietly confirmed their networks are multimedia message service interoperable.
Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless said they’ve been MMS interoperable for a month, allowing subscribers to send photos, video clips and other content between the two operators. The news is the first major step since October 2004, when a CTIA working group established guidelines for carriers to phase in MMS interoperability over time.
Interoperability has long been seen as crucial in spurring MMS use among U.S. subscribers. Analyst say text messaging failed to gain traction several years ago until carriers agreed to allow inter-carrier messaging.
“Once there was interoperability (in SMS), there was tremendous growth,” Andrew Wulff, chief technology officer of Comverse, said during this week’s conference. “The user doesn’t care about the underlying technology, he cares about, ‘I just want to send a message to my friend.’ “
Several other U.S. carriers including Sprint PCS are expected to make similar announcements in the coming weeks.
