Customers can send multimedia messages on Sonera’s mobile network starting from June 11, 2002. Sonera’s mobile customers can send and receive messages containing text, images, graphics, drawings and voice.

To be able to send and receive multimedia messages, the user needs a phone supporting multimedia messaging. In addition, the subscription must be provided with GPRS facility or a GPRS package. The customer can get the multimedia settings required for the use of the service by sending the text message MMS to the number 15400. The multimedia messaging service is activated automatically when the user sends the first message. The service can also be activated through the WAP menu.

Initially, the price of a multimedia message is € 0.59, which includes the GPRS data transmission. The price is valid until further notice. The connection of the service is free of charge. Multimedia messages can also be sent and received abroad in the networks of operators with which Sonera has a GPRS roaming agreement (10 countries at present).

Visuality brings a new dimension to mobile communications

The multimedia messaging service allows a Sonera mobile customer with a multimedia-enabled phone to receive messages containing images and voice or send them to one or more Sonera’s mobile customers. It is also possible to send messages to an e-mail address.

If the customer has a mobile phone provided with a camera, he or she can take a picture and send it immediately. The customer can attach a verbal message to the photograph in order to convey the atmosphere to all recipients at the same time. If one of the recipients does not have a multimedia phone, the message sent to him or her is saved at the address www.sonera.net/multimediaviestit, where it can be viewed. The message can also be sent directly to the recipient’s e-mail address.

”We believe that multimedia messaging will be the next marked trend in the sector. Combining voice, text and image brings new dimensions to interpersonal communications. Multimedia messaging may experience a similar boom as text messaging during the last decade: when customers notice its advantages, the number of users grows and thereby also the number of content services”, says Vice President Janne Vainio of Sonera.

Services as images on the handset screen

Sonera’s multimedia messaging service also allows the customer to utilize mobile services in a more diversified manner. Images bring a new dimension to the present content services and make them more visual and informative than before. The service makes it possible, for example, to show financial news on the mobile phone screen with related diagrams and figures, and to illustrate weather forecasts with weather maps.

As from June 11, MMS content services are offered on Sonera’s network by six companies. External service providers are connected to Sonera’s network by means of the Content Gateway solution, provided to Sonera by the CCC Group (www.cgwbusiness.com).

At present, there are only a few multimedia phone models available on the domestic market, but their number is expected to grow rapidly within the next few months. MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is an international standard, and so it will be possible to send multimedia messages with most of the mobile phones complying with this standard. MMS operates currently on Sonera’s GPRS network, and in the future it will also operate on the UMTS network. UMTS technology will enable, for example, video and real-time services.