OTTAWA - March 22, 2005 - Canadians sent more than 710 million person-to-person text messages from their mobile phones in 2004, up from 352 million the previous year and 300 per cent more than the 174 million in 2002. The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) also announced today that text messaging volumes reached 95.5 million, or more than 3.4 million per day, for the month of February 2005.

“After a year that saw the addition of 1.5 million new wireless subscribers, including a stellar fourth quarter of more than 660,000 additions, Canadian wireless phone customers now number more than 15 million,” said Peter Barnes, CWTA President and CEO. “And the phenomenal uptake of text messaging over the past three years is another clear example that Canadians' affection for all things wireless continues to grow.”

In the first North American initiative of its kind, Canada introduced inter-carrier text messaging in the spring of 2002. This allowed customers of Canada's wireless carriers to send SMS (Short Message Service) text messages by simply addressing their message to a recipient's wireless phone number, regardless of the recipient's service provider. This was followed less than a year later with the introduction of cross-border inter-carrier text messaging that allowed Canadians to text message with friends and colleagues in the United States.

As many new models of camera and video phones have entered the market over the last couple of years, Canadians are beginning to embrace Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) with the same enthusiasm they have for text messaging. MMS, which extends SMS text messaging to include photos, graphics, audio clips, video clips or combinations of these elements, allows users to send their multimedia messages to other MMS-capable phones or e-mail accounts. Canada's wireless carriers will soon complete the arrangements to introduce full inter-carrier MMS.

“The rise of MMS underscores the fact that wireless phones aren't just for talking anymore,” said Lawrence Surtees, Director Telecom and Internet Research at Toronto-based IDC Canada Ltd. “Multimedia wireless moves far beyond the wildly successful phenomenon of camera phones. Married with new Internet protocols, MMS heralds true mobile convergence and will fuel the next stage of wireless growth.”

More information about text messaging can be found at www.TXT.ca, Canada's Text Messaging Resource Centre.

Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA)

CWTA is the authority on wireless issues, developments and trends in Canada. It represents cellular, PCS, messaging, mobile radio, fixed wireless and mobile satellite carriers as well as companies that develop and produce products and services for the industry.

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For more information, contact :
Marc Choma
(613) 233-4888 ext. 207
mchoma@cwta.ca