Mobile Telephony Services 39 

Voice service is the standard function of mobile phones and modern ones can support a host of other communication services and applications, from simple short text messages such as the Short Messaging Service (SMS), transfer of multimedia data (photos, video), to more complex operations such as surfing and downloading from the internet. In this section the different types of mobile telephony services are reviewed.

2.2.1 Voice Services

As mentioned earlier, voice transmission and reception is the standard function of the mobile phone. Until very recently, voice was the only service provided over mobile telephone networks. By the close of 2008, an average mobile user in the world used 200 minutes per month. While North America topped the chart with an average of 735 voice minutes used per month per mobile phone subscriber, Latin America and Africa were the lowest with an average of 100 minutes per user per month (Fig. 2.3)

40 In the third quarter of 2008 in the UK, voice traffic accounted for 71 percent of T- mobile’s, 70.48 percent of Orange’s, 55 percent of Vodafone’s and 50 percent of O2’s total revenue per user. 99 billion minutes of outbound mobile calls were made in the UK in 2007 alone (Ofcom, 2008). The average cost of one voice-minute in the UK is $US 0.22 (10.95pence), which implies that for 2007, mobile phone operators would have generated some $US 21.78 billion (£10.89 billion) from mobile voice services alone.

In developing economies, mobile services can be easily substituted for voice services. More than 90 percent of total mobile telephony activity in developing countries is concerned with voice calls. For example, voice traffic accounted for up to 85 percent of total revenue per user for MTN South Africa in the third quarter of 2008. According to the survey we carried out for the purpose of this study, 68 percent of regular mobile phone users in Afghanistan and 56 percent in Cameroon have never

used any other mobile telephony service than voice. The other services are barely

picking up, with SMS making giant strides. In developed countries SMS traffic is 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 2000 2001 2003 2005 2007 2008 mi nu tes   of   us e   pe r   us er   pe r   mo nth

Minutes of Use Per User Per Month

World Africa Americas Asia Pacific

Europe: Eastern Europe: Western Middle East USA/Canada

Fig. 2.3:Mobile Phone Voice Minutes Used Per User per Month.

41 threatening to catch up with voice traffic and Multimedia messaging Service (MMS) is on the rise. In this study, mobile telephony services refer basically to voice and SMS, although MMS is also included.

2.2.2 Short Messaging Service (SMS)

Short messaging service refers to sending short messages to and from mobile phones. According to Giussani (2001), the architects of the GSM system noticed spare capacity in the system in 1991, and decided to add a text messaging facility in case it might prove useful. It was primarily intended to notify mobile phone users of deposited voice mails and, subsequently, subscribers were permitted to exchange person-to-person messages. Each text message is limited to 160 characters in length made up of words, numbers or alphanumeric combinations. SMS can be enhanced into EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service), which can permit users to send and receive messages with special animations, pictures, icons, sound effects, and formatted text.

SMS has evolved considerably from a between-persons service to include machine-to- machine transactions, enabling SMS to be used more and more in complex business transactions. Application or machine-terminated SMS are mainly offered by Value- Added Service Providers (VASPs). VASPs provide services on behalf of their clients who in many cases are large companies such as supermarkets, banks, hospitals and government departments. For example, VASPs provide SMS platforms for TV voting and radio show interactions via short codes for broadcasters. Transmission of weather and stock market information, and payment systems in supermarkets, car parks and cinemas now employ SMS extensively. Some SMS-receiving terminals are capable of translating texts into voice, enabling visually impaired users to have more access to

42 information. In developing countries and in the two case-study countries, mobiles services are still mainly ‘human-centric’. Money transfer and mobile banking are some of the areas where SMS is being used on a commercial scale. The M-PESA money transfer system initiated by the mobile operator, ROSHAN, in Afghanistan is largely based on SMS. Mobile adverts and government propaganda are increasingly distributed via SMS.

Globally, the volume of text messages sent from mobile phones is worth around $US80 billion per year and continues to grow, especially in developed countries. A quick estimation using industry figures shows that about 6,335 text messages are emitted from phones around the world every second. In the UK, an average of 67 text messages was sent per mobile user per month in 2007 amounting to some 58.8 million text messages per month, which constituted substantial revenue growth for mobile phone operators.

2.2.3 Multi-media Messaging Service (MMS)

Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) allows users to send and receive messages that include multimedia objects (images, audio, video, rich text). It is an SMS evolution

and it is associated with systems from 2.5G (GPRS and 1x/EVDO) upwards. MMS

can either be delivered in the immediate or in the deferred mode. In the Immediate

delivery mode, the MMS client on the mobile phone retrieves the MMS message from the Multimedia Messaging Service Center (MMSC) as soon as it receives the MMS notification, without the intervention or knowledge of the user who is informed of the

newly-arrived message as soon as it has been retrieved. For the deferred delivery

43 when to retrieve it. The delivery mode is handset-dependent, which can be pre-set by the manufacturer or simply configured by the user from a menu. MMS can be transmitted only between compatible phones or devices that employ a common

standard which is defined by the Third-Generation Partnership Program (3GPP for

GSM/GPRS networks, 3GPP2 for CDMA 2000 networks), and the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) ensures interoperability.

The application of MMS in the business environment is much more limited than SMS. The reason for this may be related to the fact that there are fewer numbers of MMS- enabled handsets within consumer groups. One other reason why MMS is yet to find wider application among businesses is linked to the relatively high cost of the service.

Mobile network operators are reluctant to offer Bulk MMS services to large

companies because MMS messaging involves several over-the-air transactions that become inefficient when MMS is used to send messages to large numbers of subscribers, as is typically the case with VASPs. 3GPP and 3GPP2 are currently working on MMS optimization techniques which could reduce the transactional overheads for bulk-messaging. This move could push mass MMS into the market.