GMail enables text messages to PHL mobile phones

Filipino users of the popular email service GMail now have the ability to send text messages to Philippine mobile phone users through a newly launched service called GMail-to-SMS. The service, which has been available for quite some time but limited only to a few networks, has now been expanded to include the three major Philippine telcos--Globe, Smart and Sun--in the roster of supported mobile providers. Google's Gmail-to-SMS works just like its chat service, where users would simply have to enter the mobile number of the recipient phone before sending a message. The recipient, in turn, can respond to the text message and it will appear on the sender's chat window. Sending a text message from GMail to a mobile phone is free but is limited only to 50 messages, while replying from a mobile phone to a Gmail-to-SMS message is charged P1 per SMS sent. Google, however, said that for every reply back from a mobile phone, the message limit of the GMail user will be topped-up by five messages, up to a maximum of 50. Should all the 50 messages be consumed, Google said the user will not be locked out of the system. "It will increase back up to one 24 hours later," it said. Contact details and past messages are likewise archived to the email service, it added. “SMS in Gmail Chat will bring a new level of flexibility and mobility to Gmail users in the Philippines," said Myriam Boublil, head of communications and public affairs, Google Southeast Asia. "With more than 70 million mobile subscribers in the Philippines and the country being the SMS capital of the world, we think this service will allow for seamless integration between mobile and PC communication and make it more convenient for Pinoys to send each other messages," Boublil added. —JMT/RSJ, GMA News