| There are a great number of people even in | | | | cost of sending voice and data communication |
| developing countries who have, in one way or | | | | packets via the internet in these systems, the use of |
| another, experienced using SMS or Short Message | | | | SMS and MMS over the VoIP network will be more |
| System using mobile phones. In fact, when people | | | | appealing than ever. |
| hear the word SMS or Text message, most would | | | | Why Use SMS/MMS in the First Place? |
| readily associate the term with mobile phones. An | | | | The use of mobile phones has grown rampant over |
| extended standard in messaging called MMS or | | | | the years and even people from developing nations |
| Multimedia Messaging Service is similar to SMS except | | | | don the latest mobile phones and gadgets. One of |
| for the added capability of sending not only text | | | | the main reasons why this phenomenon has grown |
| messages but audio, video and pictures as well. | | | | to such magnitude is the SMS feature built-in into |
| SMS and MMS has been a profitable element in the | | | | their mobile networks -- a cheap and very convenient |
| mobile business, with major networks registering | | | | way to communicate while on the go from practically |
| more than 150 billion text messages and 4 billion MMS | | | | anywhere. This is a great alternative means of |
| for each quarter of the year. Research show that | | | | communication to spending considerable airtime costs |
| teens in the United States send an average of more | | | | through direct phone-to-phone calls. |
| than 100 text messages on a daily basis - more than | | | | Service providers on the other hand are using these |
| the daily emails sent by office workers on the | | | | SMS/MMS facilities as an added service for their |
| average. This is the primary why operators continue | | | | subscribers as a way of maintaining loyalty. As |
| to support SMS and MMS features in their networks. | | | | mentioned earlier, the volume of SMS/MMS messages |
| With the ever growing popularity of VoIP or Voice | | | | sent on a daily basis proved that it is definitely a |
| over Internet Protocol systems and networks, it | | | | very viable cash cow for these operators. On top of |
| would only be logical to expect the same SMS and | | | | that, the SMS/MMS facilities can be a great marketing |
| MMS features to be available in this | | | | tool for new products, services and offers without |
| telecommunication infrastructure. With the reduced | | | | falling into the spamming category. |