Google launches free web to mobile sms service for Uganda

Google launches the Gmail to SMS, Uganda’s first PC-chat-to-mobile-text service which allows Gmail users in the country to send and receive chat messages for free in the form of text messages. Elijah Kitaka, Google's Business Development Manager said that the launch of the service in Uganda followed successful launches in Senegal, Ghana and Kenya. Mr. Kitaka also added that Google's launch of the service in Uganda was to make the internet more useful to Ugandans on a daily basis due to the vibrancy of the country's ICT sector. With the Gmail to SMS chat, a Gmail user sends a text from the desktop interface directly to a mobile phone via SMS. The recipient of the text message then responds to the text message and the response will appear in the Gmail interface of the PC chat sender. The service is currently available for subscribers of MTN, UTL and Orange but will eventually support all cellular networks and standard network charges will apply for any communication from the phone to desktop, but SMS in Gmail chat is free from desktop to phone. By default, SMS in chat is enabled for Gmail users depending on their settings, but in the event that it isn’t active in your account, you can activate it for free by going to Settings, Labs, then enabling the SMS options and saving changes.