Following the announcement by the GSM Association that a staggering one billion 'G-Mail` (GSM text messages) will be sent in April 1999 alone, Vodacom has predicted that data transmission on its GSM network will introduce a quantum leap in services to cellphone users.
"The new third-generation cellphones, with their improved capacity for text, will lead the true vertical integration of information mediums for consumers," said Vodacom group executive (corporate affairs), Joan Joffe.
"Any information currently available in voice, will be available in text as messages sent to cellphones. This includes information such as share prices and weather information. It also means being able to receive your email on your cellphone, as well as customised Web pages, which will be viewed in text. This technology would also allow customers to do their banking and e-commerce transactions on their cellphones. "
Ms Joffe said Vodacom`s customers could look forward to using some of these services as soon as by the end of this year.
The GSM Association confidently predicts that data transmission will grow at a rate of 40-50 percent this year.
"The information highway is now a reality for millions of customers that are discovering the benefits of 'G-Mail` services to relay messages and retrieve information on the move," said Richard Midgett, Chairman of the GSM Association. The Association represents the interests of 347 global network operators, regulators and administrative bodies from 133 countries/areas.
"We are clearly moving from a verbal to a visual GSM world," adds Midgett. "Customer take up of GSM`s Short Message text Services linked to a host of Internet driven information, mobile commerce and location based services via GSM has been nothing short of a phenomenon. This is the result of a greater choice of innovative services offered by operators than ever before."
"The introduction of High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD) and General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) by GSM operators this year represents a major step forward in the development of even faster data transfer speeds over GSM. These developments, together with the introduction of 'smart` handsets and devices that will make information even easier to access, will revolutionise the sector enormously."
The announcement follows a GSM Association decision taken this week in Helsinki, Finland to create a Data Task Force to share operator experiences on GSM data and text services, develop data standards to promote interoperability and better customer experience in the non voice GSM world and promote data roaming.
The GSM Association today represents the interests of 347 GSM, Satellite and 3G network operators, regulators and administrative bodies from 133 countries and areas of the world.
GSM is the world`s leading mobile communications standard, with operators providing GSM services to more than 160 million customers of the world or 65 percent of the world`s total market for digital wireless communications.
Vodacom, a member of the global GSM Association of network operators, administrative and regulatory bodies, now has some two million subscribers on its network. A R2,3 billion capex programme is underway to expand the network and create capacity for an estimated three million customers by March 2000.
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