SINGAPORE: Mobile-users who enjoy messaging as much as they do making a call, now have more to keep them happy, with new offerings from service providers SingTel and M1.

The Videomail service is free to all M1 postpaid 3G customers who sign up to receive Videomail, which has to be retrieved by making a video call to the M1 hotline.

Those who would much rather get the Videomail straight off their phones can do so at a price. The Videomail Plus service at S$5 per month allows users to receive messages via MMS and create a personalised greeting message.

P. Subramaniam, Chief Marketing Office of M1, said: "We have basically enhanced the voice mail function to include video mails and other useful features so that our customers can enjoy a better video call experience."

The service starts Friday, the same time when competing telco SingTel launches a suite of services catered to those who want more from their text messages.

Those with messages that they really must keep can now sign up for a service that allows users to copy incoming and outgoing SMSes to five email addresses or mobile numbers with just a few clicks on the keypad.

The service is useful for customers who would want to backup their messages. At the same time, it frees up space on the phone without having to lose messages that are important or meaningful.

SingTel's Vice President of Consumer Marketing, Wong Soon Nam, said: "Singaporeans rely heavily on SMS for communication.

"With SMS Plus, our customers can now effectively manage and control the delivery of their SMSes to suit their individual schedules and preferences."

The suite of services available to postpaid mobile customers in Singapore also includes an innovative SMS-diversion and out-of-office notification that works just like an out-of-office email prompt.

This service, which will send either a default or customised out-of-office SMS reply whenever the user receives messages means users need not worry about turning off their mobiles for some time.

The value-added services aimed at allowing subscribers to manage their mobile messages more effectively also include an SMS-divert service so users have the flexibility of diverting incoming messages to an email and/or another mobile number.

The network-based service is offered as a monthly subscription of S$2.14 per month or a pay-per-use choice of S$0.54 per service activation. In addition, each of the SMS Plus messages will be deducted from the bundled SMSes under the subscriber’s mobile plan. - CNA/yb