AirTel to Launch MMS Nationwide in January 2003 

AirTel is launching multimedia messaging across all the 16 states it is

present in, by January. This was revealed by Mohit Beotra, Chief Marketing

Officer, Bharti Cellular, in a chat with CNS. Accordng to an extensive audience

research done by the company, photo mesaging was mostly a fun application used

by people when they are vacationing. "A couple holidaying in Goa perhaps,

sends across a photograph of themselves on the beach, to the family in Delhi,

with a caption saying ‘See, what a good time we are having.’ This is the

primary reason why we wanted to have a nationwide simultaneous launch, instead

of a city or a region specific opening up of the services. We deliberately

delayed the launch to January," informed Beotra.

India is the fourth country in the APAC to offer MMS, with BPL launching its

services on November 7 in Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Kerala

and Goa, and Idea launching MMS in Delhi and the NCR on the same day. At an

introductory pricing of Rs. 199 per month, BPL Mobile will offer 100 MMSs

(outgoing only, incoming will be free) as well as unlimited mobile Internet

access to its subscribers on their mobile phones. Post the 100 MMSs, each

outgoing MMS will cost Rs 3 per message.

The Idea tariff card reads a one-time activation fee of Rs 500, a fee of Rs

50 per calendar month, and outgoing MMSs at Rs 5 per message, with incoming

messages free. Airtel is currently working at its tariff structure. Currently

the Nokia 7650 and Sony Ericsson T68I are the two only MMS compatible handsets

present in the country.

Sudarshana Banerjee, CNS