ATLANTA, March 23, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- The CDMA Development Group (CDG) (www.cdg.org) today announced that the CDMA community is leading the industry in providing services and handsets for the delivery of multimedia messaging services (MMS). CDMA2000(r) carriers first introduced MMS over three years ago, and today they offer a wide range of MMS services, including popular picture and video transfers, and voice and graphic attachments which can be sent to both mobile phones and PCs.
"CDMA2000 operators are well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for MMS as they leverage their new high-speed CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO networks and benefit from the availability of a growing number of multimedia handsets," said Perry LaForge, executive director of the CDG. "CDMA2000 carriers were first to commercialize MMS and are setting the pace in product innovation and commercial offerings."
15 CDMA2000 carriers around the world now offer MMS, including ALLTEL, Bell Mobility, China Unicom, KDDI, KT Freetel, Reliance, SK Telecom, Telstra, VIVO and Western Wireless Corporation. There are 175 MMS-enabled CDMA handsets with picture and video transfer capabilities manufactured by more than 20 vendors.
Carriers are offering a wide variety of MMS services around the world. KDDI in Japan introduced MMS as a part of its EZweb portfolio in 2000. In addition to picture messaging, KDDI offers video transfers up to 15 seconds long and allows users to send a URL of map site along with directions. Since April 2002, all phones offered by KDDI have integrated cameras, and all new handsets sold since 3Q 2003 can take, send and receive short video clips. At the end of February 2004, its total 10.9 million CDMA2000/cdmaOne subscribers had camera phones.
MMS services have had great success in South Korea as well. SK Telecom launched photo-messaging in September 2001 and four months later, the carrier introduced NATE-Photo services which allow photo transfer, digital image printing, a photo gallery, and storage services. In January 2003, as a part of its June CDMA2000 1xEV-DO service, SK Telecom launched Video Mail, an MPEG-4 video-based MMS service that supports downloads and streaming multimedia services as well as audio transfers. The carrier reported that nearly 18 percent of its subscriber base owns handsets equipped for picture messaging.
As MMS gains momentum around the world, interoperability between carriers becomes crucial for mass adoption of the service. The CDG, in cooperation with 3GPP2, has developed MMS specifications which define the architecture, networking and various interfaces that promote an open standards environment for MMS services. These specifications enable mobile devices to send and receive multimedia messages to and from other subscribers on the same CDMA2000 network, across CDMA2000 networks, and to subscribers of other access technology networks such as GSM. The CDG is working with other industry organizations to ensure that future MMS applications and enablers are technology agnostic so that users around the world can access these services across multiple access technology platforms.
About the CDG
The CDMA Development Group is a trade association formed to foster the worldwide development, implementation and use of CDMA technologies. The more than 100 member companies of the CDG include many of the world's largest wireless carriers and equipment manufacturers. The primary activities of the CDG include development of CDMA features and services, public relations, education and seminars, regulatory affairs and international support. Currently, there are more than 500 individuals working within various CDG subcommittees on CDMA-related matters. For more information about the CDG, contact the CDG News Bureau at +1-714-540-1030, or visit the CDG Web site at www.cdg.org.
Note to editors: cdmaOne is a trademark of the CDG. CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA-USA).