Mobile operator Three has advised its customers to switch to WhatsApp or Skype to send photo and video messages, as it announced a huge price hike in the cost of multimedia messages (MMS).
From June 13, the telecoms provider will charge 40p, up from 17p, for all MMS messages: text messages that have pictures or videos in them. Competitors O2, EE and Vodafone similarly charge 35p, 40p and 45p per text respectively.
"Some phones, like older Samsung models, recognise emoticons or emojis as photos. They would automatically convert the SMS into a picture message," the company warns.
Last year, MoneySavingExpert found that even composing your own emoji with colons, hyphens and brackets could lead to an automatic conversion into an emoticon that could be charged.
Notably, rather than justifying the price increase to its customers, Three suggested using cheaper alternatives or apps instead.
"There are other ways to send multimedia messages whilst keeping the costs at bay. Mobile applications are probably the most popular method. In fact some of them, like Skype are preloaded on most of our phones," Three said.
"Also, all of our tariffs include internet allowance so using applications like Skype, Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger or Viber to name a few, for sending MMS will use the data included in your package.
The encouragement from Three to use over-the-top services like Skype and WhatsApp may seem unexpected, particularly when European telecoms companies are lobbying for reduced regulation, in light of competition from these new entrants.
An EE spokesman told technology site Ars Technica UK that the change follows a "regular review of our pricing".
