tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-129510912012-02-15T23:55:14.622-08:00Discussion of the state of text messaging, short codes, and premium billing in the US. Premium SMS is the ability to charge a consumer a premium for a text message on his/her cellphone bill, a percentage of which flows back to the service provider.John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.comBlogger751100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-78366569568080748722008-05-01T17:28:00.001-07:002008-05-01T17:53:12.059-07:00

TMC.net editor Michael Dinan reports on Wireless Text-Messaging Service Revolutionizes Emergency Response for the Impaired a very interesting new emergency service: Hearing impaired people in County Kent (England) can send a text message to a short code asking for assistance. This is a tremendous asset -- many hearing-impaired use texting as a communications device outside the home. Even though

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-36743282533637957842008-04-29T16:21:00.000-07:002008-04-29T16:29:51.329-07:00

The University of Massachusetts has implemented a campus-wide emergency text-messaging system, see this very informative article by Derrick Perkins in The Daily Collegian for rates of success and report of a well thought out and measured implementation.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-76966031623983651982008-04-14T12:04:00.000-07:002008-04-08T12:31:59.119-07:00

ComputerWorld reports from CTIA Wireless Expo in Las Vegas this week on CTIA president Steve Largent's keynote. He told attendees at the association's annual conference that the December 2007 total for text messages was an increase of about 157% increase over the previous year. "Text messaging continues to be enormously popular," Largent said.The survey showed that in addition to text messages,

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-84462422652050360512008-04-10T21:17:00.000-07:002008-04-08T12:32:52.393-07:00

Common short codes (CSCs) are administered by a single CSC Administrator (CSCA) - CTIA-The Wireless Association® - for a group of U.S. wireless carriers. The CSCA oversees the technical and operational aspects of CSC functions and maintains a single database of available, reserved, and registered CSCs.Common Short Codes represent a fast-growing channel offering direct communication with

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-17516994454278390502008-04-08T12:14:00.000-07:002008-04-08T12:34:19.935-07:00

Seven years after the launch of basic text messaging, Verizon Wireless customers sent and received more than 10 billion messages in June 2007. Eight short months later, the number of text messages on the Verizon Wireless network last month, February 2008, doubled to nearly 20 billion.As texting grows into a more mainstream communications channel, opportunities grow for new and innovative

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-31271785954359180322008-03-29T14:47:00.000-07:002008-04-29T15:51:24.390-07:00

A recent news article in a college newspaper points to an increasing trend of using SMS to send out text alerts to campuses or organizations:Weather causes floods, outagesEmergency text message system used for first time(Southern Illinois University, Carbondale: The Daily Egyptian 3/19/08)

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-35691044773191536842007-10-21T22:54:00.000-07:002007-10-22T09:22:48.344-07:00

This article by Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal is a must read on the eve of the CTIA conference in San Francisco. Keep his thoughts in mind when listening to the various keynote presentations.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-89234337314318528632007-10-15T09:35:00.000-07:002007-10-15T10:12:51.819-07:00

U.S. Cellular Corporation is revising its penalties in case of failure by a content provider to adhere to the carrier's rules and regulations, in following 2 areas:A content provider is prohibited from including or transmitting any Binary Content as part of a message unless expressly permitted by the carrier in writing. For each such breach, the content provider is liable for liquidated damages

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-6624119482687866292007-10-05T09:59:00.000-07:002007-10-05T10:03:27.674-07:00

AT&T has alerted us that they will start disconnecting all short codes that run premium subscription campaigns and are not using AT&T's Subscription and Refund Management (SRM) Platform. AT&T will typically not give any warning before disconnecting a particular code.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-3964444419695841732007-10-04T14:24:00.000-07:002007-10-04T14:37:03.831-07:00

The CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment 2007 conference takes place from Oct 23-25, 2007 in San Francisco. Get FREE access to the exhibits and keynotes here. Enter code SFPP. You need to act quickly as the deadline for these passes is this Friday, October 5th. Contact me if you want to meet during the conference.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-2477275230158955452007-10-02T16:07:00.000-07:002007-10-02T16:11:42.582-07:00

Effective immediately, Alltel is reducing the maximum per message premium price to $9.99. Higher per message prices can be approved on a case-by-case basis but content providers will need to demonstrate the value of the content they'll provide. Also, going forward, Alltel will limit subscription periods to monthly only. Daily and weekly subscriptions are no longer allowed. Existing campaigns will

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-41526261722602139722007-10-01T16:43:00.000-07:002007-10-01T16:44:45.761-07:00

AT&T requires the use of 'zero rated' messages (ie. messages that are free to the end user) for all responses to HELP and STOP requests. These responses arrive on the consumer's cell phone via an 11-digit short code provided by AT&T.AT&T is making two changes to aforementioned policy:The 11-digit short code is replaced by a 4 digit short code. The short code number is 1006.Not only responses to

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-36776030401121193182007-10-01T09:18:00.000-07:002007-10-01T09:25:16.174-07:00

As previously reported here, AT&T is preparing to roll-out phase 2 of their subscription management system. It's called OPPC which stands for Off-Portal Purchasing Control. The basic idea is that AT&T will take over the responsibility for handling the double opt-in consumer registration process.AT&T has just announced that it would delay the roll-out of OPPC until Q1 2008. This will give content

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-21264961377719542572007-09-28T16:49:00.000-07:002007-09-28T16:58:47.569-07:00

We're happy to announce the availability of Premium Billing on US Cellular. Only text-based single purchase programs (no binary, no subscriptions) are currently supported with price points ranging from $0.50 up to $30. US Cellular consumers have a global spending limit of $50 per account per calendar month, enforced by US Cellular.All campaigns need to comply with MMA Guidelines an the USCC Rule

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-88659711076338107942007-09-27T09:54:00.000-07:002007-09-27T09:58:36.927-07:00

Verizon Wireless imposes a monthly spending cap of $100. Please note that this spending cap is to be applied on a calendar-month basis. This means that if someone signs up for a mobile chat campaign on September 28th, he can spend up to $100 between September 28th and September 30th, and another $100 from October 1st to October 31st.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-64938599616535441332007-09-27T09:12:00.000-07:002007-09-27T09:39:35.125-07:00

T-Mobile released a new version of its short code playbook, detailing all requirements content providers need to adhere to when running mobile campaigns on T-Mobile's network. As usual, T-Mobile does not allow 'grandfathering-in' of existing campaigns, meaning that all current campaigns need to be in compliance with the new guidelines within 30 days from today.The playbook has grown to a massive

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-34209034025838123212007-09-04T12:20:00.000-07:002007-09-04T12:30:17.078-07:00

Verizon now allows subscribers to block the delivery of Premium Billed SMS messages. When a content provider attempts to send a PSMS message to a blocked phone, Verizon will return a specific error code, and the content provider needs to send a zero rated message to the subscriber to inform him of the blocking.Verizon will also block the delivery of MMS messages to subscribers of Verizon

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-80415171564366186812007-08-02T17:18:00.000-07:002007-08-02T17:30:40.455-07:00

The Consumer Best Practices Guidelines, issued by the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), specify that all subscription campaigns require a monthly reminder message. Before a program is renewed, a renewal message needs to be sent to the subscriber reminding him/her that the subscription is about to be renewed. The reminder message needs to specify the pricing as well as opt-out instructions. The

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-6665923023503876612007-08-02T16:56:00.000-07:002007-08-02T17:16:34.028-07:00

Not surprisingly, T-Mobile is now requiring that any end-user who is participating in a premium sweepstakes campaign is getting some mobile content delivered to the phone in return for the premium charge. Technically, the user is paying for the mobile content, and is getting the sweepstakes entry for freeAs mentioned here, Verizon Wireless has a very similar requirement and I expect that other

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-53196611581634687262007-07-26T10:39:00.000-07:002007-07-26T10:49:06.104-07:00

With immediate effect, AT&T no longer allows the use of its logos and trademarks by off-portal content providers and aggregators. This means that all official branding logos and AT&T registered trademarks MUST BE REMOVED IMMEDIATELY from all consumer facing materials, such as websites, brochures, advertising, etc.In promoting products and services, content providers should make it clear that they

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-27254156406167701622007-07-23T09:35:00.000-07:002007-07-23T09:49:10.376-07:00

While SMS adoption has been increasing rapidly in the US, it is clear that the overall development of the market is still in its infancy compared to Europe. The IntoMobile blog has some interesting statistics about adoption differences. For more details, check out Tomi T Ahonen's article.Verizon Wireless has just reached the '1 SMS sent per day per user' mark, which happened in the UK 4 years ago

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-74852303713239132882007-07-20T12:23:00.000-07:002007-07-20T12:28:45.398-07:00

Verizon Wireless announces an important change to their handling of new premium SMS campaigns. Effective immediately, the maximum price point available for new premium short code based campaigns will be $9.99.This change only applies to new campaigns that are submitted to Verizon for approval. Campaigns that are currently running on price points higher than $9.99 can continue to do so.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-10487315419131415542007-07-18T12:42:00.000-07:002007-07-18T13:28:16.195-07:00

The MMA has released a new version of its Consumer Best Practices Guidelines, which can be downloaded here. The key changes are:Use of 'Free' has been relaxed. It used to be the case that the word FREE could not be associated in any way with a premium billed campaign (e.g. 'sign up now and receive the first 5 alerts FREE'). This is now possible, with certain restrictions.Marketing to children (

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-50933552885628432432007-07-10T18:04:00.000-07:002007-07-18T11:25:13.584-07:00

(Updated: July 18, 2007)Verizon is implementing a new billing mechanism to improve success billing ratios (SBR) for Surepay customers. Surepay is Verizon's prepaid brand.The change involves 2 elements:1. Change in message flow. Premium billing of the subscriber should no longer happen on the WAP Push message, but through a separate 'thank you' SMS message, as is the case with the other carriers.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-40329884425254291362007-07-10T17:41:00.000-07:002007-07-10T17:48:26.960-07:00

Carriers have the right to deduct any non-collectible premium SMS revenue from the outpayment made to content providers. If the outpayment was already made, they have the right to reduce future outpayments to account for past uncollectible amounts. We haven't seen this happen ... until now.Sprint has informed us of their plans to 're-capture' payments made to content providers for uncollectible

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-69019986950010674882007-06-12T16:18:00.000-07:002007-06-12T16:19:50.693-07:00

It's often hard to keep track of what is allowed and what isn't. Because of that, we've created a table summarizing all carrier requirements and restrictions related to operating common short code (CSC) campaigns, both premium and standard rated, in the US.You can download the table here. Let me know what you think. Drop me an email: marc at quios dot net.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-42057349924845127312007-06-12T11:02:00.000-07:002007-06-12T11:08:40.646-07:00

Starting with the June billing period, Sprint will start deducting refunds from the outpayments made to content providers. Previously, Sprint was not accounting for refunds. Sprint has also implemented a new message flow whereby subscribers are 'validated' before the premium content is delivered and billed. This means that subscribers who cannot be billed will no longer be able to receive premium

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-26434674395824855072007-06-08T15:25:00.000-07:002007-06-08T15:40:33.372-07:00

The fourth annual Global Messaging conference took place this year in Monte Carlo. Analysts are predicting a continuing growth in the volume of SMS messages sent worldwide. In 2005, yearly SMS traffic reached the 1 trillion level. For 2010, estimates vary between 2.3 trillion and 3.2 trillion.According to John Delaney, principal analyst in Ovum's Consumer Group, there are five reasons for the

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-15909314012967305932007-06-05T14:27:00.000-07:002007-06-05T14:42:45.692-07:00

Verizon is in the early stages of releasing a new content rating system for off-portal content. All short code programs will need to be categorized in one of four different content categories. All Verizon subscribers will also be categorized in one of four content categories. If a content provider is attempting to deliver content to a subscriber in a 'lower' category, the content download will

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-721016313031122882007-06-04T15:44:00.000-07:002007-06-04T17:20:05.136-07:00

Telephia released the first ever study on Premium SMS in the US. Over the course of the first quarter of 2007, a total of 74 million premium SMS transactions were processed across all carriers, for a total retail value of $273 million.A couple of interesting statistics:Mobile content downloads dominate in value (79% of total revenue). Average premium transaction value is $7.27Off-portal content

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-65229528269271598992007-06-01T15:51:00.000-07:002007-06-01T15:58:15.631-07:00

Verizon Wireless now requires all premium billed reverse auctions to include some form of added value content (text alert, joke, trivia, etc.). This is due to the changing legal landscape causing reverse auctions to be considered as games of chance and no longer games of skill. Without the added value component, reverse auctions could be viewed as an illegal form of gambling in some

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-16881272233549962522007-05-29T20:19:00.000-07:002007-05-29T20:31:04.871-07:00

Cingular announces important changes to the way its Subscription and Refund Management (SRM) system will work, mainly to improve Cingular's visibility over end-user subscription status to 3rd party content.Under the new and revised SRM system, content providers no longer need to handle the double opt-in user interaction before starting a new subscription on Cingular's SRM platform. Instead

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-24526177944415683622007-05-10T18:17:00.000-07:002007-05-10T18:28:02.183-07:00

T-Mobile announced today that all J2ME games and applications need to be certified by their independent certification partner, True North Service, before they will be approved by T-Mobile and made available to T-Mobile subscribers.This new requirement doesn't change the previous requirement that all J2ME games and applications need to be part of T-Mobile's white list of approved applications.The

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-74081108431737291852007-05-07T13:35:00.000-07:002007-05-16T11:39:08.190-07:00

Sprint is changing the way gateway providers interact with Sprint's message delivery and billing systems. Whereas content providers just deliver the proper premium sms message to gateway providers like Quios, we work behind the scenes to (i) deliver the content to the cell phone user; (ii) initiate a billing transaction with Sprint's billing system.Previously, we were first initiating a billing

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-64875108147023158812007-04-23T10:03:00.000-07:002007-04-23T10:12:58.828-07:00

Dobson has completed its rebranding from Dobson/Cellular One to Cellular One. Please update your marketing materials accordingly. You may use below logos (small or large) provided you follow the Dobson branding guidelines as documented in the Quios White Paper.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-43575868349628023952007-04-23T09:56:00.000-07:002007-04-23T10:02:42.149-07:00

Alltel is imposing a new minimum rate of $0.50 on all premium billed campaigns. Existing campaigns below this minimum may continue, but new campaigns must adhere to the new policy.The other carriers with minima are AT&T Mobility, who requires a minimum of $0.25, and Sprint, who requires a minimum of $0.15.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-42142082129355579662007-04-17T10:55:00.000-07:002007-04-17T11:00:38.917-07:00

Verizon has announced following price policy changes. All affected campaigns need to start adhering to this new policy by APRIL 30, 2007. We will approach Quios customers who have affected campaigns individually to assist them in the migration.1. Weekly billing is no longer allowed. You can continue to use daily or monthly billing.2. Chat pricing is capped at $0.99 per message.3. Monthly

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1779931553734435472007-04-12T18:06:00.000-07:002007-04-12T18:15:36.628-07:00

Quios has learned that several law suits have been initiated against wireless carriers regarding deactivated numbers. The complaints in these suits have to do with recipients allegedly being billed for services and content based upon authorizations received by the PREVIOUS owner of that phone number.As detailed in a previous post (Mo. June 19, 2006) deactivated numbers are typically recycled by

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-65619935070686581762007-03-21T12:14:00.000-07:002007-03-21T12:46:25.652-07:00

As of March 7, 2007 Alltel has increased the monthly spending limit for premium services from $35 to $75. This spending limit is applied by Alltel on a PER USER basis and covers all premium SMS usage by that user in a given month. Alltel is enforcing the limit. Content providers do not need to make any changes.At the same time, Alltel announces support for prepaid phones. The subscriber must have

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-37019393885086099962007-03-09T12:00:00.000-08:002007-03-09T12:15:07.086-08:00

T-Mobile announces today that it has made changes to its campaign provisioning fee structure as well as its refund driven outpayment penalty structure. The changes are implemented retroactively from Feb 1st, 2007 onwards.1. The one-time campaign provisioning fee is reduced from $1,000 to $500.2. The new outpayment penalty structure now provides an incentive in addition to penalizing customers for

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1170282316910042212007-01-31T14:16:00.000-08:002007-01-31T14:25:17.523-08:00

Forrester Research released a study on text messaging usage by age group. They estimate that consumers between ages 12 and 21 are more than twice as likely as the average adult mobile user to send messages or browse the Internet on their mobile phone.The study also shows that among young people, text messaging is pretty much universally adopted.Here are the numbers:Active SMS users as % of US

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1168568046807589532007-01-11T17:31:00.000-08:002007-01-19T12:32:26.056-08:00

[Updated Jan. 19, 2007]Today Quios is informing its customers of rate changes that will be applicable for short code campaigns that run on T-Mobile's network. These changes are implemented with immediate effect :1. Introduction of one-time T-Mobile campaign setup fee of $1,000. Note that T-Mobile requires that every campaign running on a short code be approved separately. Each one of these

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1164663971291716452006-11-27T13:21:00.000-08:002006-11-27T13:46:12.036-08:00

Sprint has elaborated a number of standards that content providers must comply with or face penalties. The standards go beyond the guidelines released by the MMA today and are described in full detail below:Compliance with the Consumer Best Practices Guidelines, as set forth by the Mobile Marketing Assocation. The guide can be downloaded hereCompliance with any rules or requirements set forth by

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1164662406844019552006-11-27T13:14:00.000-08:002006-11-27T13:20:07.763-08:00

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) today released an update to the Consumer Best Practices Guide. The guide provides content providers with specific guidelines on how to set up and manage mobile campaigns.Here are the key changes:Use of 'free' terminology in advertising and promotionMarketing to childrenProcessing of carrier deactivation files and management of spending cap limitsViral

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1152838216821526972006-07-13T17:50:00.000-07:002006-07-13T17:50:17.160-07:00

Cingular has released a new edition of their 'customer experience' policy document. The biggest change pertains to alternative (ie. non-premium SMS) forms of payment. With immediate effect, Cingular will no longer accept short code campaigns that use non-premium SMS based forms of payment (credit card, Paypal, etc.).Cingular used to allow non-premium SMS forms of payment as long as premium SMS

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1150769589263189502006-06-19T18:53:00.000-07:002006-06-19T19:13:09.423-07:00

The relationship between people, mobile numbers, and carriers is not static. Actually, it's surprisingly dynamic. People change phone numbers when they move. Or they get suspended for non-payment or other reasons. Or they keep the number, but change carriers (also called 'churn'). When numbers get de-activated, carriers typically re-assign them to other customers within 1-3 months.It is quite

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1149093059075104562006-05-31T09:25:00.000-07:002006-05-31T09:30:59.410-07:00

Verizon Wireless has ended its premium billing relationship with Tracfone. Tracfone is an independent provider of prepaid wireless services.Hence Tracfone subscribers who use the Verizon Wireless network will no longer be able to access premium SMS services. Roughly 1 million Tracfone users are impacted. Content providers need to opt-out all Tracfone users, and prevent them from attempting any

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1149092453619406382006-05-31T09:14:00.000-07:002006-05-31T09:20:54.016-07:00

Quios is pleased to announce that it has added Virgin Mobile to its list of supported carriers. Virgin Mobile counts more than 3 million subscribers and as an MVNO uses the Sprint network.Virgin Mobile will support standard and premium rate text campaigns (no binary or content download campaigns for now). We expect Virgin to start accepting new campaigns as of August 1, 2006.Quios offers the

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1147742543294282312006-05-15T17:56:00.000-07:002006-05-15T18:22:23.486-07:00

The 10-Q quarterly reports to the SEC and press releases by various carriers offer a good insight in the latest subscriber numbers. We've aggregated the numbers below for your convenience.According to the CTIA website, there are 213 million wireless subscribers in the US. Quios connects to over 93% of all wireless subscribers in the US.Q1 2006 US SubscribersWireless CarrierSubscribersMarket

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1146594817777363912006-05-02T11:28:00.000-07:002006-05-02T11:33:38.030-07:00

Alltel is implementing an enhancement to its billing platform that will prevent Alltel prepaid customers from being billed for premium SMS services. The tentative implementation date is May 8, 2006. This will lead to increased premium SMS failure rates from that day onwards. Alltel is working on a longer term solution to allow prepaid customers to purchase 3rd party content. It is anticipated

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1145300296646238452006-04-17T11:44:00.000-07:002006-04-17T11:58:16.840-07:00

Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA, released some new SMS and data statistics at last week's CTIA show in Vegas. In June of 2005, over 7 billion text messages were sent across carriers in the US. This is a 154% increase over the previous year. Also, over 50 billion text messages were sent in the last 6 months, which represents a 96% increase over the previous 6 months. At the end of 2005,

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1145299387353781272006-04-17T11:35:00.000-07:002006-06-01T10:47:27.696-07:00

The Common Short Code (CSC) program continues to expand rapidly. Over the next couple of weeks, CTIA will start allowing the registration of 6 digit short codes. This will vastly increase the current pool of 600,000 5-digit short codes by adding 1,000,000 6-digit short codes.UPDATE (6/1/06): 6 digit short codes are now available

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1142960668666486452006-03-21T09:04:00.000-08:002006-03-21T09:04:28.863-08:00

Today, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), of which Quios is an active member, released Version 2.0 of their Best Practices Guidelines. They can be downloaded here.The Best Practices Guidelines have been established to provide a better wireless consumer experience by giving the consumer control over the communication to his/her cell phone and by ensuring that the consumer has been properly

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1142552759178978342006-03-16T15:04:00.000-08:002006-03-16T15:45:59.493-08:00

Here's one of the industry's dirty little secrets. Not all Premium SMS transactions succeed. As a matter of fact, many will fail. Each failed message is lost revenue for the customer, and brings down significantly the average outpayment per message. The ability of a gateway provider to actively manage SBRs and minimize failure rates is therefore one of the most important criteria anyone should

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1133815140233013092006-03-16T12:34:00.000-08:002006-03-16T15:52:21.396-08:00

Verizon has put a hold on all new chat programs pending the finalization of their new chat policies and guidelines on or around December 23rd. They feel that the current programs represent a significant risk for VZW from both a content standards and Best Practices perspective.Update: As of March 16, 2006, all new chat programs continue to be on hold. No new guidelines have been published yet.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1142213500121885092006-03-12T17:27:00.000-08:002006-03-12T17:31:40.183-08:00

As mentioned before, Cingular is requiring all off-portal subscription programs to move to monthly billing, using Cingular's subscription program. Some aggregators appear to be reluctant to move to this new system, probably because of the significant technology changes required to be in compliance with Cingular's new infrastructure. However, as a Cingular representative recently pointed out: "We

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1142213121933280042006-03-12T17:23:00.000-08:002006-03-12T17:26:15.330-08:00

Verizon is getting ready to allow off-portal download of multimedia content such as ringtones, wallpapers, games, etc. The first programs are scheduled to go live in April/May. Preliminary pricing points to a fixed outpayment percentage regardless of retail price, which is different from Verizon's regular outpayment schedule. This means that outpayments are going to be relatively more interesting

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1142212913518472882006-03-12T17:17:00.000-08:002006-03-12T17:21:53.876-08:00

In addition to Verizon, it appears that Dobson has now also put a hold on new chat programs where as Alltel is following Tmobile by limiting the premium billing of chat services to 99c. As a result, it is increasingly difficult to launch cross-carrier chat services on new short codes. Here's a summary of the limitations by carrier for chat services:Verizon: on hold.Cingular: no limitations.Sprint

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1138413284706571582006-01-27T17:46:00.000-08:002006-01-27T17:54:44.980-08:00

As of January 31st, Sprint is moving all premium billing services to a new billing platform. There is no change for content providers. Consumers will no longer receive messages from short codes that have the price point appended to the code. All messages received by consumers, regardless of price point, will show up with the 5 digit short code and are fully reply-able.Also, as of today, Sprint

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1133983428684096042005-12-07T10:45:00.000-08:002005-12-07T11:23:49.006-08:00

You used to be able to squeeze an extra month or so out of the normal short code rental period by renewing after the official expiration date. No later. Neustar has changed its policy and will now start the new renewal period from the expiration date regardless of when you actually renew the short code.Example:Expiration date: November 1, 2005Code Renewal date: December 1, 2005New Renewal Period

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1132787827832076482005-11-23T10:48:00.000-08:002005-11-23T15:17:07.866-08:00

Sprint now supports multiple price points on the same short code. Their implementation is based on 'extending' the 5 digit short code with 3 digits which will signal the price. Example: A service operating with short code 33333, billed at $1.99 and at $2.99 will be visible to the consumer as short code 33333199 and 33333299 respectively.Quios customers need not worry about extending the short

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1131753192177528892005-11-11T15:47:00.000-08:002005-11-11T16:06:57.280-08:00

Tmobile announced that they will aggressively crack down on non-authorized operator chat applications by the end of the year. Following guidelines will need to be strictly adhered to: Absolutely no adult content allowed. Operator chat with live operator is ok, with automated/bot replies is not ok. Monthly spending caps need to be respected. Tmobile plans on auditing all existing chat

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1131563466781261402005-11-09T11:02:00.000-08:002005-11-09T11:12:51.436-08:00

CTIA, the association of wireless carriers, today announced Wireless Content Guidelines, a voluntary pledge by the carriers to provide tools and controls to manage access to wireless content.Content will be divided in 2 broad categories: (i) Generally Accessible Carrier Content; and (ii) Restricted Carrier Content. The content categorization guidelines will be developed by a carrier-independent

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1131060057139175762005-11-03T15:16:00.000-08:002005-11-03T15:20:57.156-08:00

Many carriers freeze any network changes around the end of year to be able to deal with increased year-end volumes, and reduced staff. This will delay the provisioning of short codes. Please take this into account if you plan on launching new short code services towards the end of the year or the beginning of next year.The carrier announced freeze dates are :Alltel: 12/19 - 1/1Cingular: 11/22 -

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1130803863306167452005-10-31T16:01:00.000-08:002005-10-31T16:11:03.320-08:00

Details about Cingular's subscription changes are starting to trickle in. Key elements are :1. Only monthly subscriptions will be allowed. Previously, this restriction only applied to binary campaigns (ringtones, etc.) but will now be extended to ALL campaigns (including text alerts, horoscopes, etc). This means that you can no longer provide daily subscription services such as daily horoscopes

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1129667882821283852005-10-18T13:32:00.000-07:002005-10-18T13:39:07.550-07:00

Cingular announced that they plan on taking control of subscription billing through Premium SMS. Currently, content providers are generating their own Premium Billed SMS messages and are responsible for handling opt-in, opt-out, auto-renewal, etc. in line with the Cingular customer experience policy document.As of December 1st, Cingular plans to launch a new subscription management mechanism to

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1129607039077702612005-10-17T20:32:00.000-07:002005-10-17T20:43:59.093-07:00

Tmobile now requires all content providers to report monthly, on a per short code basis, how many binary subscriptions they have, and how many content downloads were completed. Tmobile reservers the right to audit these numbers and shut down short codes should there be any discrepencies.Tmobile is normally charging $0.50 per WAP Push message. However, they will not charge this amount as long as

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1127774350087869682005-09-26T15:36:00.000-07:002005-09-26T15:39:10.096-07:00

At the CTIA Mecca conference, Tmobile announced that they will gradually start allowing off-portal sales of Java games. However, individual games will have to be certified by Tmobile to work on their network before they can be sold through Premium SMS.No time frame on when this will be happen.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1127767436930027472005-09-26T13:40:00.000-07:002005-09-26T13:43:56.936-07:00

San Francisco, Sep 26, 2005: CTIA announced new statistics that show continued heavy growth of SMS and Data in the US: 196 million consumers now own a cell phone 1/3 of them (roughly 63 million consumers) are actively using data services In August 2005, 7.2 Billion text messages were sent across US carriers Data revenue now accounts for roughly 8% of carrier revenues

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1127180281327488222005-09-19T18:24:00.000-07:002005-09-19T18:42:30.820-07:00

A survey by Yankee Group earlier this year amongst 5,200 adults found similar results to the study mentioned here earlier by PlanetJam Media Group: 62% of 18-24 year olds are regular text message users 33% of 25-34 year old 25% of 35-44 year old Forrester research estimates that revenues from text messaging will grow to $4.3 billion by 2006, up from $2.5 billion in 2004.CTIA estimates that

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1126659473599546582005-09-13T17:49:00.000-07:002005-09-13T17:57:53.606-07:00

PlanetJam Media Group has announced the results of its RESPONSEbase study on Text Messaging usage. Very interesting! Bottom line is that text messaging is rapidly becoming a standard communication tool for the young demo. Here are the detailed results:For the 18-24 year old cell 64% text message via their cell phones at least twice per month 24% text message several times per day 33% send

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1126574028585242242005-09-12T17:50:00.000-07:002005-09-12T18:52:01.870-07:00

It is common knowledge that the Adult industry is thriving on the web. What may be surprising to some is that the same Adult industry is also generating significant revenues from mobile services, mainly in Europe, where adult services such as chat, adult content downloads, and now increasingly video downloads and streaming are booming. Many of the European carriers have set up separate 'adult

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1119282924540644812005-06-20T08:52:00.000-07:002005-06-20T08:56:46.310-07:00

Cingular and Cingular Blue (formerly AT&T) announced today that all MT messages that respond to an opt-out request or HELP request need to be ZERO-RATED. This is different from 'Standard Rated'. A 'Standard Rated' message will be billed to the consumer at the standard message rate, while a 'Zero Rated' message will not be charged at all.As usual, timeframe for implementation is very short.

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1117682712848246252005-06-01T20:20:00.000-07:002005-06-01T20:25:12.853-07:00

Cingular Blue (formerly AT&T Wireless) abolished its distinction in Premium SMS outpayment rates between subscription and single purchase programs. This had to happen sooner or later because the current system made no sense. Certain short codes supported both subscription and single purchase services making it highly confusing to try and figure out what the outpayments should be in such a

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12951091.post-1117238239995666372005-05-27T16:35:00.000-07:002005-05-27T16:57:20.000-07:00

In a press statement released yesterday, Cingular Wireless disclosed summary statistics of the text messaging participation rates during American Idol Season 4 . 41.5 million text messages were 'recorded' during the entire season. Only Cingular subscribers (5o million) were able to participate.Let's play around with these figures: Each epsiode must have generated around 3.5 million votes. With

John O'Rourkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01151023467005180543noreply@blogger.com1