Germany switches off MMS, and the question turns to when the UK follows

German mobile operators have switched off the Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), leaving users there to send pictures, short videos and audio to other phones through internet-based platforms such as RCS, WhatsApp and iMessage. The move has prompted the question of when, or whether, UK networks will do the same.

MMS launched commercially around 2002 and only became popular alongside the arrival of 3G a year later, which was far better suited to carrying that kind of data over early mobile connections. Unlike regular SMS text messaging, MMS let people send media such as pictures. It also carried limits on characters and file sizes, and sending an individual message over the cellular network was often expensive.

That cost still applies in the UK. Three charges 55p per MMS on Pay Monthly plans where it is not included in the tariff allowance, EE charges 98p, O2 charges 87p and Vodafone charges 75p. Even accidentally adding an emoji to a text could convert it to an MMS and add to a bill where such messaging was not part of the plan.

Eclipsed by internet messaging

The service quickly found itself competing with internet (IP) messaging platforms, which became more viable as mobile data prices fell. RCS, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and similar services have grown heavily over the past decade or so and do not carry the same restrictions. MMS has largely been overtaken by them.

How many people in the UK still use MMS is unclear, which makes the real-world economic impact of removing it hard to gauge.

Dario Betti, chief executive of the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF), said UK operators including Vodafone UK, O2 UK, EE and Three continue to support MMS, so it remains available for certain consumer and enterprise uses.

"The UK has a strong CPaaS ecosystem, advanced A2P messaging market and also increasing adoption of RCS Business Messaging," Betti said. "This means that operators are likely to take a more commercially driven approach to any future migration from MMS."

He added that Germany offered a useful case study of both the opportunities and the risks of retiring legacy messaging services. "For UK operators, the key lesson is not simply whether MMS should eventually be switched off, but whether the industry has built a sufficiently robust RCS, CPaaS and AI-powered messaging ecosystem to replace the reach, reliability and revenue that legacy services currently still provide."

What UK operators say

EE, O2 and VodafoneThree were asked what they made of the German change and when the UK might follow. Only O2 responded at the time of writing. A spokesperson said the operator could not rule out switching off MMS "one day in the future", but currently had "no active plans" to retire it.

Lessons from Germany

By the time German operators pulled the plug, MMS usage there had already fallen by more than 96 per cent from its 2012 peak, meaning users had long since moved on. The networks that turned it off also saved on costly licensing fees, reduced backend maintenance and cut down on customer support issues.

Whether UK operators reach the same conclusion is likely to depend on how far internet-based and business messaging services can absorb the reach and revenue that MMS still carries.