Cable and Wireless in Anguilla has introduced new cutting edge technology that enables its customers to use their compatible mobile phones to send instant photos and other imagery to other users.

Kerry Barrett (2nd from right) explaining MMS to customers

The system was launched on Thursday morning, February 1. That was when Cable and Wireless transmitted special settings to all compatible mobile phones, thus automatically implementing the package service downloaded by customers.

“Somebody can take a photo or video of something and send it you and you can receive it in a split second,” Marketing Manager Giesel Francis said at a press briefing. “Suppose, for example, you are out shopping and you are not sure what brand of milk to buy, you can take a picture, send it to somebody at home and ask which one of the brands you should purchase.”

Cable and Wireless launched the exciting technology and mobile phones in a glare of media publicity which included a live Radio Anguilla broadcast.

The enabling technology is called “Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). Like SMS (Short Messaging Service), MMS is a way to send a message from one mobile to another. The difference is that MMS can include not just text, but also sound, images and video. It is also possible to send MMS messages from a mobile phone to an email address.

Chief Executive, Sutcliffe Hodge, put it graphically: “If there were some breaking news–-somebody caught a big shark at Crocus Bay--someone who is there can take a photograph and send it to you and say this is what is happening and you will see crowds of people around the shark. Then you will say ‘hey, I am coming.’

“Customers are always looking for new and fresh uses and this is just another use. It is very different from just being able to send a text to say ‘hi, how you doing?’ You can send a photograph of a flower or something else. You can go on a website and download greetings or other stuff you want to send to somebody…”

Lester Forman, Vice President, Sales and Mobile, said: “We are offering the service not just to post-paid customers but pre-paid customers as well. You will be able to use the service once you have a compatible handset. Once it is configured, then you can go ahead and use the product.”

He said the pricing of the MMS would be 65 EC cents for each picture message as an introductory offer. The final settling price will be around one dollar latter on.

Ms Francis said that the market demand, and other Caribbean islands coming on board, would affect the price. She stated that the 65 cents price might change over a period of months with World Cup Cricket coming up…but for now every image sent would cost 65 cents.

The Turks and Caicos Islands and Montserrat launched the service on Friday, February 2, after Anguilla. A number of other islands in the Eastern Caribbean already have the product.

Ms Francis said: “The Multimedia Messaging Service is basically an upgrade from the normal text messaging we have. Text is referred to as SMS or Short Messaging Service. Just by the name we can already see that it is limited. With MMS (Multimedia), text messages, animation, video clips, sound and recorded messages saved on a mobile phone can be sent to someone anywhere.”

She explained that the settings sent by Cable and Wireless to its mobile phone customers on Thursday “basically changed the programming or the configuration of the phones.” She went on: “Even if customers do not have one of the fancy handsets that have camera or other capacity, we have settings almost like a software, that we are going to be sending to all such phones on the island and that will re-configure and re-programme their phones
so that they can send and receive videos, animation, pictures, etc.” She explained that Black Berry phones already have the capacity.

The only handsets which will not be able to be re-programmed are those with faulty operations or very old. Because of the complexity of the software, other phones will have to be taken to Technician Kerry Barrett, and others at the Cable and Wireless store, for configuration.

“Essentially, every handset now on our market and active will receive the settings on Thursday,” Francis further said. “Customers are going to receive three different messages. From 9 o’clock, for example, they will get a text message on their phone saying ‘you are about to receive fresh MMS and internet settings from bmobile. Simply accept or say yes’. Customers will then receive a second email with the MMS settings containing the package waiting to be downloaded.

“This will allow them to send and receive picture messages, download videos from the internet, surf the internet on their phones, send and receive animation, video clips and everything else that the normal text messaging system do not allow us to do,” she said. In term of the internet, she stated that customers would be able to go online to any web page without using a computer or without any extra work and without paying a monthly fee.
She emphasised: “There is no set up fee, there is no monthly fee. The service is on your phone to use at your discretion whenever you want. Previously, customers paid EC$11 monthly for internet service on their phones. That is no longer applicable.

“You are paying whenever you go to a website to download information or open video clips because you are consuming the service at that point…You will be paying four cents for every kilobyte you use, equating to one email message without any attachments or photos. This is less that the cost of a regular text message for 25 cents. The other cost in addition to the 4 cents is the 65 cents to send picture messages.”
Both Ms Francis and Mr. Hodge explained: “Access to MMS is free. Usage is not.”

Ms Francis added: “Only Cable and Wireless has the MMS product. No other competitor has it.”

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