Largent Announces Landmark MMS Interoperability Pact

CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2004

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 26, 2004--CTIA-The Wireless Industry(TM) President and CEO Steve Largent announced today that wireless carrier's have agreed to provide consumers with MMS (Multi-Media Messaging Services) interoperability. On Friday, the Inter-Carrier MMS Working Group established a set of guidelines that will allow wireless carriers to phase-in photo and video messaging services over time.

"This is the essence of the wireless industry," said Steve Largent. "Few industries are more competitive than ours, but today we have proven that competitors can and will come together to better serve the consumer."

“I congratulate the members of the MMS Working Group on this landmark industry agreement”

Currently, only customers of the same carrier network are capable of exchanging photo and video messaging. The carrier's decision to move forward in a collective fashion on MMS interoperability will permit customers of different networks to now swap multi-media images.

The MMS Industry Working Group began meeting in May with the objective of identifying a common feature set that could be supported by all participating carriers.

"I congratulate the members of the MMS Working Group on this landmark industry agreement," continued Largent. "The Wireless Industry has proven today that it will set aside strong competitive differences in order to provide the customer with new and improved capabilities."

CTIA is the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry, representing carriers, manufacturers and wireless Internet providers.