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Making SMS texts sound like voice-mail in Asia

Roamware has announced the launch of its first International Voice Short Message Service (Voice SMS) in partnership with Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART), the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider.

The company recently completed the GSM Association-led "proof-of-concept" trial for a new hub-based roaming structure for the mobile market. Once tested and installed, the hubs will provide a single point of contact for operators seeking roaming agreements, eliminating the time-consuming individual and bi-lateral agreement approach in use today.

In a PR statement made during the 3GSM show, John Jiang (CTO, Roamware) commented: “The successful delivery of the proof-of-concept shows our commitment to develop innovative technology that is compliant with GSM Association specifications designed to drive the market forward.”

“The value and expertise that Roamware can contribute to the Open Connectivity Initiative will provide direct cost saving benefits our customers and positively impact the worldwide mobile market”, Jiang added at the time.

The SMS announcement is only marginally related.

“The successful installation of Roamware’s International Voice SMS with SMART is the first implementation of its kind anywhere in the world. It highlights our commitment to developing and rolling out innovative technology that helps increase average revenue per user (ARPU) for operators and value for consumers,” said Bobby Srinivasan, Roamware’s Chief Executive Officer. “Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will now be able to send and exchange voice messages with family back home who are on the SMART network at a fraction of the cost of making a conventional mobile call.”

Full details of the 3GSM announcement are online

The PR release about the voice SMS suggests that texting will become more socially acceptable.

“The ability to send and receive Voice SMS across international destinations is of huge interest to our mobile subscribers who are on holiday or living and working abroad as it represents the cheapest way to make voice communications on a mobile,” said Danilo J. Mojica, SMART Wireless Consumer Division head. “Until recently, our mobile users used SMS as the primary means of communication over the network because it is cheaper than voice or Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS).”

The new service will appear to be voicemail, rather than texting, says the release.

Here's the rest of the announcement:

SMART subscribers will be able to send a Voice SMS by calling a short code and leaving a voice message and the recipient’s international number. An SMS notification is then sent to the recipient containing a number which the recipient calls to listen to the message. The service is initially available to all SMART subscribers based in the Philippines with relatives, family and friends in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Roamware’s International Voice SMS presents operators like SMART with a way to increase use of voice and SMS products at a time when SMS price erosion is running at over 20% a year, with MMS prices also being cut by 10% a year. Unlike MMS, Voice SMS works across all handsets and provides operators with a value-added service which is as non-intrusive as SMS, easy to use and appeals to the mass market.

Voice SMS enables mobile users to verbalise emotions and expressions not possible in standard SMS and also provides a low-cost way to communicate without having to engage in a full conversation. Voice SMS is not limited by device language capability and transcends any literacy barrier by allowing people who cannot read or write to send and receive verbal messages using their mobiles.

Today, international SMS and cheap international direct dialling (IDD) products generate high revenues as mobile communication helps people keep in touch when they are away from their home country. Roamware’s Interconnect network enables routing and delivery of Voice SMS to international destinations and allows operators to launch services instantly without having to negotiate arrangements with foreign operators or invest in termination infrastructure in participating countries.