Local Font for SMS Services

The Maldives GSM operator, Dhiraagu has launched an SMS service that uses the local Thaana font. With this new service, customers wishing to send SMS in Dhivehi can now very easily write and send SMS in Thaana script to any phone which has the Thaana SMS software downloaded.

The same local SMS rates apply to Thaana SMS and there are NO monthly charges for this service.

Thaana is the writing system for the Dhivehi language spoken in the Maldives. The origins of Thaana are unique among the world's alphabets: The first nine letters (h-v) are derived from the Arabic numerals, whereas the next nine (m-d) were the local Indic numerals. The remaining letters for loanwords (z-ch) and Arabic transliteration are derived from phonetically similar native consonants by means of diacritics, with the exception of y, which is of unknown origin. This means that Thaana is one of the few alphabets not derived graphically from the original Semitic alphabet.

Since the vast majority of Dhiraagu customers are Maldivians, Dhiraagu believes that Thaana SMS would make communication more fun and easier to use."

Posted to the site on 19th June 2006