Talking on the phone is so old-fashioned.

Yet there are more mobile phone owners in Bermuda than ever. CellularOne's John Narraway explains why an ever-increasing number of mobile phone owners are choosing not to talk on their phones, but to send ICQ-style instant text messages instead.

“Since we started offering the service last fall, we have seen over a million text messages sent and received through our network,” he said.

“The majority of this messaging (in Bermuda) is done by kids, judging purely by volume,” he added, “but businesses in Bermuda are slowly starting to realise the benefits of Short Messaging Service (SMS).”

The benefits are impressive. SMS, the sending and receiving of instant text messages from a mobile phone, similar to the online ICQ message service, means that mobile phone users can communicate with other users very cheaply, even overseas. CellularOne offers the service for a mere 15 cents a message. “That's much cheaper than it would be to call someone,” said Mr. Narraway.

SMS is not all that can be done on mobile phones in Bermuda. “All the carriers (in Bermuda) offer SMS, however we are the only ones who do email and information (i-phone),” said Mr. Narraway. “We are the first on the Island to really do it.”

The email option offered by CellularOne includes sending and receiving emails both to another user's phone or PC, whereas the information services options includes items such as horoscopes, stock information, local shop sales and news briefs, etc. - all sent right to your phone.

“Football scores, every time a goal is scored, that's a big one right now,” Mr. Narraway noted.

Daily weather reports and emergency weather updates such as hurricane alerts can also be sent to the phone. “Even when the power is out you can still get the message through,” said Mr. Narraway, “as opposed to the radio or TV.” Information from online services such as Yahoo! and MSN can similarly be sent directly to your phone.

The option is good for traders who want to keep on top of the stock market while away from their computers, while email and instant text messaging comes in useful for companies with employees in the field.

The next generation of phones, Mr. Narraway said, will be able to take text messaging one step further from the ICQ message style to an instant chat format, similar to MSN or AOL Messenger.

“You'll be able to see the conversation string, invite multiple users all at one time - it makes you wonder if people will ever just use the phone again,” he said. Customers now want larger mobile phones with a bigger screen and keys for easier messaging, as opposed to the recent trend of “smaller is better.”

“In the version that's about a year away (from Bermuda) there's a digital camera actually built into the phone,” Mr. Narraway said. “You can do multimedia messaging,” such as calling a friend from a club and literally showing them, through the camera in your phone, what they are missing.

Videophones are already in existence in areas overseas, but for now most of the phones in Bermuda do not have the video option. As for accessing the Internet from your phone, that also is coming soon, Mr. Narraway declares. “It's definitely coming . . . That's the future and it's not far off.”