SMS, Ringtones, etc. can be sent from one mobile phone to another mobile phone or infrared device at a faster rate then sending a SMS or EMS. Mobile phones having infrared and GPRS enabled can be used as a modem to access the internet using an infrared port device on the computer.

Infrared communication system can provide unregulated bandwidth, for enhanced mobility. Infrared also increases the possibility of adhoc communication i.e. there is no need for a base station between the two terminals to communicate to each other within an enclosed room and without interference from any where. For transmitting a high-definition video signal over a cabled network, powerful processing is required to minimize the usage of bandwidth, hence the complex terminals are required which will decode encoded data which is received. On the other hand if this high-definition video signal is transmitted over an infrared connection which can provide unlimited bandwidth the data does not need to be compressed and thus the onboard processing is not necessary.

Since the beginning of infrared communications, a variety of channel models and systems have been presented, however the infrared has not been as widely accepted as radio, as there is still no need for such small cells and the cost involved for development and layout of such a system appears to be very high. Infrared communications might not have found a prominent place in the mobile communications however IR has found other areas of use, especially at home. Infrared communications are very successful in the field of direct communication between two points where the cost of the cabling between two points is significantly larger than that of a wireless direct link. Infrared communications have been around since the 70's when Gfeller et al presented a milestone paper on infrared channel modeling, and the ways in which it can be used to network a room.