Mumbai: BPL Mobile, India’s premier mobile phone service provider, has launched India’s first multimedia messaging service (MMS). With the BPL Mobile launch, India will be the fourth country in Asia Pacific to commercially launch the MMS service.

MMS will be the killer application on GPRS, and BPL Mobile is the only operator in the country possessing a robust GPRS network to deliver a rich and true MMS experience to its subscribers. At an introductory pricing of Rs 199 per month, BPL Mobile will offer 100 MMSs (outgoing-incoming will be free) besides unlimited Mobile Internet access to its subscribers on their mobile phones. Post the 100 MMSs, each outgoing MMS will cost Rs 3 per message.

BPL Mobile subscribers with MMS-compatible mobile handsets (currently the Nokia 7650 and Sony Ericsson T68i) are able to send multimedia messages at the touch of a button to anywhere in the world, much like how SMS works. Recipients who do not have MMS-compatible mobile handsets can receive their multimedia messages either on their emails or as an SMS notification on their existing handsets. In addition, BPL Mobile will be creating a photo library on its website, where subscribers can compose MMS messages and send them to designated mobile phone numbers.

MMS is the next generation of messaging service. Now mobile users will be able to use mobile phones with built-in cameras and sound-recording equipment to create their own multimedia messages, or retrieve ready-made graphics and sound from video-and-audio-banks either online or in their mobile phones.

Riding on BPL Mobile’s GPRS network, MMS is the gigantic leap in messaging technology. A prerequisite for delivering the real MMS experience, GPRS is today the corner stone of all new data and mobile Internet applications rollout plans of BPL Mobile.

Says BPL Mobile president and CEO F B Cardoso: “SMS has taken the world by storm and we believe MMS, with its enhanced features, will enjoy similar success. As the saying goes, a photo speaks a thousand words. We at BPL Mobile expect MMS to create the messaging revolution similar to the Internet boom after the introduction graphics- and animation-based content.

“With the integration of the digital camera and the mobile phone, we expect to see high MMS usage from the forwarding of photo images. Self-generated content as well as content download, such as that of animated files and video clips in the near future, will also trigger a user’s desire to forward it to friends, thus creating a multiplier effect.

“The wide acceptance and usage of SMS has become so pervasive in our subscriber base, we are confident that MMS will bring greater value to mobile users, as well as a steady revenue stream for operators like BPL Mobile.”

Multimedia messaging reshapes the landscape of mobile communication, making it more personal, more versatile, and more expressive than ever before. Now your messages are no longer restricted to words. So when you see something incredible, take a snapshot and show it to friends via your mobile phone.

Or when you need a birthday card and the shops are closed, create and send a video greeting. You can create, send, receive, and forward multimedia messages — with sound, animation, snapshots and video clips that include text and even your voice. It’s currently the most versatile messaging service.

TeleDNA has developed the full suite of multimedia messaging software services for BPL Mobile. The systems include deployment of TeleDNA’s MMS Centre (MMSC), which is the central store-and-forward facility. The suite of MMS solutions provided to BPL Mobile by TeleDNA includes the MMS-C, AAA Server and the MMS Portal.

Says TeleDNA Inc president and CEO Praveen Nallapothula: “At TeleDNA, we are excited and pleased to partner with an innovative operator like BPL Mobile to bring India’s first commercial MMS service. We are proud to be the first vendor to offer a total end-to-end MMS solution in India with a world-class MMS-C developed for the first time in India.

“TeleDNA is committed to constantly work with BPL Mobile to provide mobile subscribers with practical and fun to use MMS content and applications. With the right billing model, content and marketing strategies, operators are going to witness the first killer application for their GPRS network rollouts.”

Adds Cardoso: “In a very competitive market dominated by established big name MMS-C vendors, BPL Mobile selected TeleDNA over several competitors due to the robustness, features and quality of the product, flexibility and lead response time in developing customised applications and excellent support.”