Kuwaiti mobile operators announce region's first national MMS interconnectivity agreement

This new interconnection ability, or gateway, will enable Kuwaiti customers to exchange multimedia messages with anyone in Kuwait, regardless of which network they and their correspondent are using. The announcement marks the region's first national MMS interconnectivity agreement between two competing operators.

"Mobile communications is all about bringing people closer together, regardless of their service provider. The interconnectivity agreement between MTC-Vodafone and Wataniya constitutes a significant event in terms of MMS developments in this market. It is a move that is in the interest of consumers," said David Murray, CEO of Wataniya Telecom. "This agreement underpins the development of mobile technologies and the services that the two operators provide to the Kuwaiti market. Even though we remain staunch competitors, it makes sense for us to work together for the benefit of our customers."

"This is an important milestone for both the Kuwaiti and the Middle East market - and the people who will really benefit from this are our customers. By opening a gateway between ourselves and Wataniya our customers are no longer restricted by different networks and different operators. This is crucial for the adoption of MMS services, as was the case with SMS services when the service was first introduced," said Dr. Saad Al Barrak, Director General of MTC-Vodafone. "By responding to our customers requests we expect to see a rapid increase in use of MMS services and growth in the uptake of MMS handsets and creativity of the content-rich multimedia services in the Kuwaiti market."

MMS services enable mobile users to send and receive rich messages containing text, images, animations, voice and audio clips. The benefits of this technology are not merely limited to photo messaging with mobile users snapping pictures and sending them to their friends. It also enables Internet content providers to send formatted text and graphics to their users bringing them rich content delivery of sports, news, weather, entertainment and games. MMS services are also allowing corporations to extend the scope of information available to their employees and customers.

The Kuwaiti market has witnessed a significant change in the communication lifestyles of mobile phone users after the launch of GPRS and MMS services. By driving new value and enriching the way people communicate on the move, the two mobile operators continue to provide their customers with the richest and most compelling set of GPRS and MMS services in the Middle East. The availability of these services has also spurred a considerable growth in the Kuwaiti MMS-enabled handsets market over the last six months.

The agreement places Kuwait on the forefront of MMS developments in the region. It is estimated that 2004 will be the year that MMS develops strong momentum and begins to see widespread use around the world with one in four handsets being MMS enabled. * The success of MMS is largely dictated by the market's ability to quickly and easily send and receive multimedia messages between networks and devices. The interconnectivity agreement between Wataniya Telecom and MTC-Vodafone brings Kuwait one step closer to making this success a reality.