Farewell, MMS: Messaging service set to end after mid-November

[SINGAPORE] Once a way to send images and clips through mobile text messages before chat apps rose in popularity, multimedia messaging service (MMS) will no longer be offered by telcos in Singapore after the middle of November.

This is another mobile technology of yesteryear that will bite the dust, after 2G mobile networks closed here for good in 2017. MMS was introduced in the early 2000s.

With no more MMS, short message service (SMS) texts cannot be used to send photos, animations and music files soon. Currently, SMS texts with such files are converted into MMS. It also means that some old phones might be unable to send SMS texts with emoji images without tinkering. This is because such legacy phones also convert emoji-laden SMS into MMS, an issue reported six years ago.

So, to send a smiley with old handsets, an easy fix would be for the user to key it in text, for instance by typing :) in place of the emoji image. Newer phones can usually send SMS texts with emojis as regular text messages without this conversion.

Other scenarios in which SMS gets inadvertently changed to MMS will also become irrelevant. These include sending very long SMS texts because when MMS ends, such lengthy messages will likely be sent as a series of SMS texts instead. The SMS-to-MMS conversion can be a problem as sending an MMS is more expensive than SMS.

If someone has used up the free bundled SMS or MMS from his mobile plan, he can be charged about five cents for each extra local SMS text that is sent after that. But it generally costs 30 cents to 80 cents for an MMS.

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Singtel, StarHub and M1 told The Straits Times that the decision to end MMS was due to falling demand for it."In the last three years alone, we've seen a 40 per cent decline in MMS traffic and ceasing this service allows us to channel resources towards what customers really seek," said M1.

StarHub said MMS is rarely used these days, so it believes the cessation will not have a significant impact on its customers.

But the telcos assured users that SMS will still be available. "SMS continues to be a widely used application that's supported by all devices and networks," said Singtel. "It remains a growing business for us, especially with increased e-commerce and online activity in many sectors resulting in the need for text alerts, one-time passwords, notifications and marketing messages."

According to market research firm IDC, SMS and MMS messaging traffic - which are not tracked separately - has fallen in Singapore by about 16 per cent annually over the past five years.

The revenue from it has also slipped, with a compound annual growth rate of minus 20 per cent over the same period.

Singtel and M1 are advising customers to switch from MMS to apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and WeChat.

THE STRAITS TIMES