Vodafone customers can MMS abroad

Vodafone has announced that e-talk customers will now be able to use their Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) mobile phone to send images to their family and friends at home through General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Roaming technology. Vodafone Malta launched the GPRS roaming service for contract customers in April this year.

Vodafone's e-talk GPRS Roaming is currently being offered at a special summer rate.

Besides using MMS when abroad, with GPRS Roaming Vodafone e-talk customers are also able to access services such as the Internet and WAP on their mobile phones, laptops or PDAs.

Vodafone's GPRS Roaming service is available in Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Hungary, Romania, Austria, Poland, Singapore and the Slovak Republic. Vodafone Malta will progressively expand GPRS Roaming to cover other networks and countries in the coming months.

The GPRS is a packet-based wireless communication service that allows data transfer and a continuous connection to the Internet for mobile phone and computer users. When using GPRS, Vodafone customers only pay for the amount of data downloaded or uploaded.

Vodafone customers travelling abroad access their GPRS services in exactly the same way as they do at home. There is no requirement for customers to input additional service access codes to use their services. By accessing Internet and WAP through GPRS technology, customers will benefit from faster download speeds and "always on" mobile connectivity.

"Since its launch in December 2002, the MMS service has proved to be very popular among our customers," said Vodafone Malta marketing manager Simon Mizzi. "Images are the perfect way to stay in touch with family and friends especially when abroad. With Vodafone's e-talk GPRS Roaming service, customers are charged according to the volume of data sent. Thus with the current special summer rate, a customer who sends a 50K image while on holiday in Rome, will only be charged 30 cents."

When accessing the e-talk GPRS Roaming service, Lm1 will be deducted from the customer's account. This amount will be used as a balance against future use of the GPRS Roaming service by the customer.

All Vodafone customers must be provisioned with GPRS by Vodafone's customer care representatives to be able to access the service, both locally and abroad. The GPRS service is currently available for free as a limited time offer for all Vodafone customers when in Malta.

For further information about GPRS and applicable rates, customers can call Customer Care on 247 from their Vodafone or 2148-2820 from any other phone or log on to www.vodafone.com.mt.