AT&T reported yesterday that it will indeed be rolling out MMS for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS. The company said it will begin offering the service on Sept. 25.
In June, Apple enabled MMS on the iPhone 3G and 3GS via the new iPhone 3.0 operating system (OS). AT&T said the service would be available at “the end of summer.” AT&T is saying the long wait was due to concerns that the service would have an adverse effect on network performance.
According to an AT&T spokesman, the carrier already offers MMS on other devices and this most recent announcement applies only to the iPhone 3G and 3GS. MMS will be available at no extra cost to customers with a messaging package. Those without a messaging package can send MMS messages at standard per-message rates.
“We’ve been working for the past several months to prepare our systems and network to ensure the best possible experience with MMS when it launches,” the company stated in a press release. The company reported that its wireless usage has grown at a rate of 350 percent year-over-year for the past two years.
AT&T has struggled recently to assuage a wave of criticism leveled at its handling of the iPhone and its insatiable appetite for bandwidth.
To be fair, many in the industry believe the iPhone is a wake-up call for all carriers to speed rollout of 4G networks that might help ease the coming onslaught of smartphones.
AT&T plans to deploy a software upgrade to HSPA 7.2 as an interim step to rolling out LTE.
AT&T said it would spend $17 billion to $18 billion in 2009, with two-thirds of that going into wireless and wired broadband networks.