Alltel launches SMS voicemail

Alltel Wireless launched its Voice2TXT service, which allows customers receive their voicemails in SMS format.
The carrier announced in September that it had signed a deal with technology provider SpinVox to provide the voice-to-SMS conversion capability.
Today marks the commercial launch of the service, which is available for $5 per month for up to 20 voicemail conversions (with extras priced at 25 cents apiece); $10 per month for 50 conversions (20 cents apiece for additional messages) and $20 per month for 100 conversions (each additional is 10 cents).
The service is available on any Alltel handset that is SMS-capable. It allows customers to store and forward converted messages as regular text messages and retrieve the original voicemails if they want to.
“Our customers will appreciate the fact that they no longer have to wait for the opportune time to listen to a voicemail,” said Craig Kirkland, director of messaging and voice services for Alltel Wireless.
In a separate announcement, Alltel said it had extended for another five years its relationship with Comverse for managed real-time billing services for the carrier’s prepaid subscribers.