The ongoing free MMS promotional campaign throughout the summer months of June, July and August 2003, by both NetCom and rival Telenor Mobil, is reportedly helping to drive the sale of MMS-enabled handsets as well as traffic volumes. Judging from the pace of events, the general market outlook is that by year end 2003 the overall MMS handset penetration in Norway will have reached 25%. According to the branch association for electronic equipment in Norway (Elektro og elektronikkbransjen), 7% of mobile handsets sold so far in 2003 contained integrated cameras.
It has been reported that in the month of June 2003 alone, 700,000 picture messages were sent over both Telenor Mobil and NetCom's networks. In July 2003, this figure was believed to have increased to 1.6 million. Out of these totals, Telenor Mobil has confirmed its subscribers sent 500,000 messages in June, and just over one million in July. NetCom reportedly has 65,000 registered MMS users while Telenor Mobil has about 110,000.
Traffic volumes are expected to fall in September 2003 when the promotion comes to an end. NetCom has hinted that the per message price for MMS, NOK 5 before the summer promotion, could be reduced. Should this happen, Telenor Mobil will also be bound to review its pricing.
This is an extract from the August 2003 edition of EMC's European Mobile Communications Report. This report is published monthly detailing current and past subscriber growth, licence awards, infrastructure contracts and market analysis from cellular activity in Eastern and Western Europe. For further information on this report, please see: http://www.emc-database.com/redir.nsf/index/emcr?OpenDocument&source=dz131a
