Jaxtr offers free SMS service across 38 countries

Online communications company Jaxtr announced a new service that allows members to send free SMS/text to anyone worldwide, whether or not the recipient is a jaxtr member.

The new service allows free text messages to be sent to mobile phones in 38 countries, including the United States, Brazil and Britain, directly from the member's jaxtr homepage. Basic jaxtr membership is free, and the new international text service is available to all jaxtr members.

"Jaxtr allows anyone to sign up for a free membership and start sending SMS messages internationally at absolutely no cost," said jaxtr co-founder and chief operating officer Touraj Parang. "You can SMS your friends and family abroad whether or not they are currently members of jaxtr. The moment you sign up for a free account at jaxtr.com, the world is literally at your fingertips."

The latest annual report from Research and Markets predicts that 2008 will see over 2 trillion SMS text messages sent worldwide. While domestic SMS is generally affordable, sending messages to friends and family abroad is generally still quite expensive. In the United States, it costs roughly 20-25 cents to send SMS messages internationally via the major mobile providers.