MSN Hotmail, Messenger go mobile

BANGALORE: MSN and Mobile 365, a provider of mobile messaging and data services, today extend their relationship in Asia by forging strategic mobile alliances with five mobile operators in India.

These five mobile operators include Reliance Infocomm entities - Reliance IndiaMobile (RIM) and Reliance GSM, Tata Teleservices, Spice Punjab and Spice Karnataka, both entities of Spice Telecom.

Users of MSN Hotmail will now have the option to receive emails sent to their MSN Hotmail accounts via SMS on their mobile phones. They will also be able to reply to those email messages directly to the sender's inbox using SMS, as well as perform other common tasks directly from their phone.

Ashish Thomas, product lead, Communication Service, MSN India, said, “The MSN Messenger/Hotmail service via SMS is currently available to over 30 percent of the Indian mobile user base. MSN and Mobile 365 expect to expand the service to cover 100 percent of the Indian mobile market very soon.”

According to Mahesh Prasad, president, Reliance India Mobile, “The “MSN Messenger over SMS” service is also a form of two-way SMS, enabling users and their MSN Messenger buddies to keep in touch with each other at any time via a PC and any mobile phone that supports SMS technology. When a user is logged on to MSN Messenger on a PC, he/she can keep in touch with family and friends via their mobile phone simply by creating and saving a mobile MSN Messenger number for each of their buddies.”

“Being directly connected with more than 180 mobile operators worldwide, we have collaborated with more than 450 brands globally. India represents a huge market for Mobile 365 in South Asia, and we see great potential for us to offer our market-proven expertise in mobile messaging (SMS and MMS) services and strengthen our market presence here, especially in view of the astounding growth in the mobile data market in India,” said Matthew Talbot, Managing Director, Mobile 365 Asia

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India in June 2005, there were about 57.4 million mobile subscribers. The market is expected to burgeon to around 200 million subscribers by 2008.

In December 2004, MSN India and Mobile 365 forged similar mobile alliances with Airtel, India's leading mobile service with a strong footprint in 20 states in the country and BPL Mobile, India's best and most trusted mobile phone service provider, to enable their subscribers to access their Hotmail emails and chat with their MSN buddies on SMS anywhere, anytime.

In February 2005, MSN India also launched MSN Hotmail and Messenger via two way SMS with Hutch, to its more than nine million subscribers.