Nokia and Oi have worked closely together testing the system with selected users. Commercial MMS services includes person-to-person MMS, which is a greatly enriched version of SMS with the capability of sending photographs, pictures and voice or sounds together with text messages. Also available is a range of content-download services allowing users to deliver ready-made color postcard type of messages to friends with their favorite pictures or animated cartoons.
“The ability to take a photo anywhere, add a text or voice message and send it to relatives or friends, is making mobile communication even more attractive and our customers are already enjoying the service which launched in October," says Alberto Blanco, Marketing Director, Oi.
“We expect to repeat the success of the short messaging system (SMS) which has reached one million per day”, he adds.
"Building on the huge worldwide success of SMS, we believe MMS will become a mass-market mobile data service that appeals to all consumer segments and expands the possibilities for new applications and services," explains Jose Roberto Paiva, Account Director, Nokia Networks.
"We are pleased to further expand our excellent relationship with Oi by supporting them in launching Latin America's first multimedia messaging service," he adds.
Under the agreement, Nokia is supplying its Nokia Multimedia Messaging Center (MMSC), as well as the Nokia Terminal Gateway for non-MMS phones, the Nokia Profile Management server and the Nokia E-mail Gateway. In addition, Nokia is providing its Nokia Charging Center to support Oi with flexible rating models.
Multimedia messages can be sent between MMS-capable phones or even to legacy phones, thanks to the Nokia Terminal Gateway. The Nokia solution provides content storage, voice messaging over MMS, intelligent connectivity to e-mail, and rich push/pull applications among other services.
Nokia has among the wireless industry's most extensive track record in MMS with around 40 customers to date and an ever-growing number of launched systems, making multimedia messaging a reality for today's mobile consumers.
Nokia has among the wireless industry's most extensive track record in MMS with around 40 customers to date and an ever-growing number of launched systems, making multimedia messaging a reality for today's mobile consumers.
Oi is the only 100% Brazilian mobile carrier. It owns the largest GSM network in Latin America with 2,400 installed towers. Brazil’s first GSM carrier, it gained 700,000 subscribers in just four months. Original estimates predicted that it would only reach 500,000 users in June 2003, when the company will be one year old. It is expected to serve 10 million users by 2010, and attain 25% market share in its coverage area, thus becoming one of the four largest companies in this industry.
Expected to operate in 16 Brazilian states, the carrier was the first to implement in Brazil the world’s most widely used mobile telephony standard—GSM— adopted by 70% of mobile phone owners worldwide, according to GSM Association. The new technology is going to provide access to fast Internet, location services (LBS), as well as data, video, photos, and music transmission.
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness and secure solutions, the company has become the leading supplier of mobile phones and a leading supplier of mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on six major exchanges.
Contact information:
Global Communications Department, Nokia Networks
Tel. + 358 7180 38195
Email nokia.networks@nokia.com
Nokia Brasil
Paula Barifouse
Corporate Communications Manager
Tel: + 55 (11) 5508.0416
www.nokia.com