After a week of operation the MMS to TV service, which is part of the Mobile 2 TV application, resulted in about 7000 MMSs being sent. Messages are displayed on a small bar at the bottom of the screen. Pictures are displayed in boxes in the screen's corners for 10 to 30 seconds.

Taha Al Gailani, general manager of TechnoWireless, says: "It is very simple for the viewer to send a message. They simply send it to a short code number any time they want. The service is connected with several operators in the region."

Gailani sees huge potential for TV stations to connect mobile services to their own TV shows. "Viewers can interact with the channel as well as with other viewers. TV shows may invite viewers to vote on certain topics and then display the results in real time on the TV screen."

Gailani says the TV channel is provided with a monitoring system that automatically filters inappropriate language. "TV channels are very cautious about what is shown," he says. "Our system allows channels to monitor SMS messages to ensure that improper language or pictures are not broadcast. Some people want to send inappropriate messages and try to fool the automatic filter system by changing the spelling of words or writing Arabic words with Latin characters.”

“To have full control of what is broadcast TV channels must also look at each message after it has been filtered. We are not able to automatically filter MMSs yet so they have to look at each one of them.”

Viewers can vote for the best MMS drawing, baby photo or the prettiest bride. The idea of broadcasting SMSs and MMSs on television came from Europe. Gailani says his company localized the ideas and applications: "In Egypt we launched the service by sending photos of babies and wedding photos. Our application also has a virtual mobile that we use to educate viewers on how to use the service."

TechnoWireless has been an Ericsson Mobility World partner for the past year. The company employs 20 people and develops value-added services based on Microsoft technology. The company cooperates with local operators such as MobiNil, Vodafone Egypt and regional operators such as Tuniziana, Q-Tell and Etisalat.