Operators exchange instant messages across networks

Mobile operators in Spain and Italy are on the verge of launching services that will enable their customers to exchange instant messages across networks as part of the worldwide Personal IM campaign run by the GSM Association, the global trade association for mobile operators.

These new services also allow instant messages to be transferred as text messages (SMS), where necessary, ensuring a large community of potential users right from launch.

Telefonica and Vodafone Spain and Telecom Italia and Vodafone Italy are ready to rollout IM services based on a technical and commercial framework developed by the GSMA to maximize ease-of-use, interoperability and reliability, while minimizing spam and viruses.

T-Mobile and Orange are also planning to launch IM services based on the GSMA framework this year, enabling mobile users in Germany, the United Kingdom and France to also exchange instant messages across mobile networks.

The Personal IM campaign is also gaining momentum in Asia, where mobile operators in India are rolling out services that will enable their customers to initiate IM sessions with friends on other networks.

In total, about 40 mobile operators in more than 55 countries with more than one billion customers are now participating in the Personal IM campaign.

Operators in Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa and Thailand, for example, are also planning to launch interoperable IM services this year.

"We now have in place a global standard that will allow mobile users across the world to enjoy a rich IM experience, encompassing presence information, immediacy of delivery and a conversational-style dialogue," said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA.

"Crucially, we have also designed Personal IM to be fully compatible with SMS, ensuring this new and exciting service will have a very large community of users right from launch," he said.

Since Personal IM was introduced one year ago at the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona, the GSMA and mobile operators have enhanced the original concept to enable users to also exchange messages with SMS users, developed implementation guides and interworking agreement templates to ensure interoperability across networks, and worked with vendors on extensive interoperability testing.

As a result, operators worldwide will now be able to easily roll out Personal IM services, which are interoperable with similar services from other operators, and will be able to transfer messages between IM users and their existing community of SMS users.

Vodafone, Telefonica, Telecom Italia, T-Mobile and Orange have signed, or are about to sign, interconnection agreements with each other, paving the way for the rollout of interoperable IM services.