Canada turns on full MMS interoperability

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association last Friday flipped the switch on a nationwide MMS interoperability network connecting all of Canada’s Tier 1 operators into a central MMS exchange hub.

The service, provided by VeriSign, is unique in that it was implemented by Canada’s mobile trade association instead of through separate carrier agreements. Starting today almost all Canadian Wireless customers should be able to send inter-carrier MMS without difficulty.

VeriSign’s Inter-Carrier Multimedia Messaging Services solution acts as a central hub connected to Canadian carriers’ varying MMS centers, managing the routing, converting disparate protocols and transcoding different media formats. VeriSign, through its recent acquisition of LightSurf, is one of North America’s leading SMS providers, and is trying to turn that inter-carrier expertise along with its experience in MMS platforms into a leading MMS interoperability business.

So far, VeriSign has announced interoperability deals with all the Canadian operators and Dobson Communications, but VeriSign officials expect many more deals to come in the next few months as the industry strives for complete interoperability by the end of the year.