Etisalat enables customers with Malayalam, Tamil and Sinhalese SMS

Customers who subscribe to this service will have a special application installed in their phone which then allows them to compose and read messages in the scripts of these three languages.

Essa Al Haddad, Etisalat's Chief Marketing Officer, said: "We are happy to once again demonstrate our commitment to the various communities residing in the UAE, and enable them to contact their loved ones around the world in a more personal way through their own language. While most mobile phones support other popular languages such as English, Arabic and French, we are happy to offer this service that will enable this large community to use their own languages for messaging."

The service makes use of a Java-based application that runs on the customer's mobile phone. Most mobile phones available today are equipped with the Java MIDP 2.0 required to use this service, and the customer also needs to have an EWAP/GPRS subscription. Messages composed in these languages can be sent as a regular SMS or as email by simply entering the email address of the recipient, and also be stored in the Drafts folder for editing or sending later.

The person receiving the SMS in one of these languages also needs to have the same application installed, and many operators in India and Sri Lanka already offer their customers this service. This means that Etisalat customers will have no difficulty in staying in touch with friends and family at home through this medium.