Mobile VoIP provider Vyke Communications has launched Vyke Pro, which it says will enable mobile users worldwide to send text messages for free. 
Most UK consumers think of text messaging as the cheapest and easiest way to communicate, says Vyke,with a typical cost for a standard 160-character text message of approximately 12p. But when this cost is broken down and related to the actual amount of data being sent, the company says, the true cost of texting is revealed. Every character you send in a text message equates to 1 byte of data. So translating this into a per-Megabyte cost, UK customers, Vyke calculates, are paying approximately 750 per MB to send text messages.
For those interested in the maths, 160 characters per SMS equals 160 bytes of data. So it takes 6,250 SMS messages to add up to 1MB of data transfer. 6250 SMS messages @ 12p per message = 750 per MB.
Comparatively, the company points out, the US space agency, NASA pays approximately 61.50 per MB to receive data from the Hubble Space Telescope, a sophisticated 11-ton machine located 600km from earth. This amount includes all personnel, operational, data transmission and data processing costs for the Hubble program and equates to UK mobile users paying 12.3 times more, byte for byte, than NASA pays to capture and process images of outer space. 
Vyke Pro is an downloadable programme that is compatible with all recent Java enabled handsets. It offers UK mobile users the opportunity to drastically reduce the exorbitant charges they are currently paying by using its smart message routing technology. This allows Vyke Pro users to send free text messages to other Vyke Pro users around the world, or to send normal text messages to non Vyke Pro users for as little as 1p per message. Vyke Pro is also able to remotely start-up the recipients Vyke Pro software and deliver messages instantaneously. This wake up technology replicates the always-on-time delivery of messages that has been a key part of the popularity of SMS.
For international calls, Vyke Pro provides users with a low-cost alternative with Vyke Communications dial-back service. With the Call feature in Vyke Pro, a user is able to set up a call to any number worldwide. After the user selects the number they would like to call, the Vyke service calls back to the user almost instantaneously and then connects them with the number they are calling.
Everyone thinks that SMS is a cheap way to communicate at a typical cost of 12p per message says
Jan Christian Berger, EVP of Global Sales for Vyke AS. However, character by character, SMS is one of the most expensive ways in the world to move information. Vyke Pro finally frees users from the stranglehold that the mobile operators have had on mobile messaging.  Why should users continue to pay exorbitant rates for text messaging and international calls?
More information on the Vyke website.