Yahoo! SMS the world for free now

Yahoo introduces an upgraded free e-mail service with enhancements that include letting people send text messages from computers to mobiles, reports Narayanan Madhavan.

Worried about your SMS bills? Help is at hand if you have a Yahoo email ID. The leading Internet media company announced this week that its free Web mail service, now integrated with chat and other features in a re-launch, will offer free text messaging services to users in four countries including India.

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The facility, which earlier existed only for Yahoo’s instant messenger users, is now available through the Web mail, and will take two to three weeks to roll out as Yahoo has 22.5 crore users worldwide, said IM Swaminathan, director, communications and community products, at Yahoo’s Bangalore centre. “If you click on the tab that says Text Message, you can compose an SMS. It is free,” Swaminathan told the Hindustan Times. But the person replying will pay for the SMS sent back.

The service could help people save money on international SMS messages that are costly, and also help desk-bound people send instant messages to people on the move.