Emergency text message system used for first time

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, outages
Emergency text message system used for first time
(Southern Illinois University, Carbondale: The Daily Egyptian 3/19/08)

Opinion: Wireless Carriers and Innovation

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.

$10,000 U.S. Cellular Penalties

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:

1. 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 of $10,000. Binary Content is defined as anything that is not 7bit ASCII text. This includes 8bit text, 16bit text, Wap Push messages, MMS messages, SMS Wakeups, vCard, vCal, etc.

   
   

2. A content provider needs to adhere to the Mobile Marketing Association's 'Consumer Best Practices Guidelines for Cross-Carrier Mobile Content Services'. For each material breach of such guidelines, the content provider will be liable for liquidated damages of $10,000.
   

AT&T Disconnecting non-SRM compliant premium subscription services

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.

Free CTIA Conference Pass

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.

Alltel price cap and subscription periods

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 be grandfathered in and won't need to change, but all new campaigns need to adhere to these new policies.

AT&T Zero Rate Policy Change (UPDATED)

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:

1. The 11-digit short code is replaced by a 4 digit short code. The short code number is 1006.
   
2. Not only responses to HELP and STOP requests need to be zero-rated, but also subscription confirmation and subscription reminder messages.
   

In addition to these changes, AT&T requires that all subscription confirmation messages contain a toll-free technical support number, website address, or AT&T customer support number. Refunds and cancellations should ONLY be processed using AT&T's SRM system.

Quios customers need to ensure that all subscription confirmation and reminder messages are sent with 'price=-1', which will automatically trigger the zero-rate tariff and 4 digit short code on AT&T's network.

UPDATE (10/1/2007): We were informed today to hold off on the implementation of this new policy. Because of consumer litigation, AT&T felt it was necessary to change the policy, and that hasn't changed. So we do expect this new policy to be implemented some time in the future. Stay tuned for more info.

AT&T Delays implementation of OPPC

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 providers extra time to test their implementation and integration with the OPPC system during Q4 2007. AT&T stresses that the delay does not signal a reduced commitment to switch over to the OPPC system. On the contrary, AT&T intents to invest even more time and effort in making sure that the OPPC platform is successfully rolled out.

Premium Billing on US Cellular

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 Book (more details to follow).

US Cellular has over 6 million subscribers in 189 markets in 26 states (see coverage map - areas in blue). The company has converted its network to CDMA-1X digital technology, adding more voice capacity, high-speed data products and features, and expanded coverage areas. A small percentage of the U.S. Cellular subscriber base is pre-paid customers not eligible for premium traffic at this time which will be available in the future.

Verizon Wireless Monthly Spending Cap

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.

T-Mobile Playbook Changes

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 45 pages and is to be used in conjunction with the MMA Best Practices guidelines which are also mandatory.

The key changes in the current version (version 6) of the playbook are:

• Sweepstake campaigns are approved on a case-by-case basis and if charged at a premium rate, need to include a piece of downloadable content for the premium charge.
  
• Premium Interactive TV campaigns are approved on a case-by-case basis and may require on-air visual and verbal call out of pricing and Ts&Cs. Only one-time events are allowed, no subscription billing.
  
• Opt-in and opt-out via a mobile internet browser (WAP page) is now allowed.
  
• WAP Billing is now offered as an alternative to PSMS billing.
  
• Promotional or complimentary downloadable content is now allowed on a case-by-case basis if the download is tied to a specific promotional campaign for a 'non-mobile' product or service.
  
• The restrictions on downloadable applications are relaxed. Both non-networked and networked applications and games may be permitted as long as they have been certified by True North Services (TNS), T-Mobile's third party application certifier. However, applications and networked games, if approved, are only available to T-Mobile subscribers with unlimited Internet access.

Verizon Phone Blocking

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 resellers such as Tracfone, Airvoice, Page Plus, or West End, etc. A specific error message will be returned.

If the content provider observes this error during the delivery of a message that is part of a subscription, the content provider needs to cancel the subscription, and confirm to the subscriber that his subscription has been canceled.

Monthly subscription reminder messages

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 guidelines are silent on how much lead time a content provider needs to give the consumer before actually renewing the subscription.

All US carriers require content providers to implement the MMA guidelines, but some carriers impose additional restrictions.

Verizon Wireless announces that consumers should be given at least a 2 business day lead time before a subscription gets renewed. This means that the monthly notification message needs to be sent out 2 business days before the renewal Premium SMS message is initiated.

Many content providers have been sending out renewal messages 10 or 20 minutes before sending out the premium sms message. This is no longer allowed by Verizon.

T-Mobile and sweepstakes

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 free

As mentioned here, Verizon Wireless has a very similar requirement and I expect that other carriers will follow pretty soon.

I suspect that these changes are the direct result of the class action lawsuit initiated by a viewer in Georgia who participated in the 'get rich with Trump' mobile sweepstakes campaign while watching The Apprentice on NBC. See here and here for more details about the lawsuit.

New AT&T Branding Guidelines

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 are the sole provider of services. Promotional material should not imply that AT&T provides the service, but only that your service can be purchased by AT&T subscribers.

Any reference to AT&T needs to be made using plain text.

AT&T's auditing partner, Accenture, will start auditing 3rd party websites and advertising for infringement of the above rules within 2 weeks.

Please make sure to remove all infringing AT&T references from your promotional materials asap to avoid possible cancellation of your short codes.

Americans 4 years behind the UK in SMS adoption

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. Today, we're at 6 SMS per day per user in the UK, 5 in Ireland, 10 in South Korea, and 15 in the Philippines!

Verizon limits Premium SMS tariff to $9.99

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.

New MMA documents

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 (anyone under the age of 13). The MMA requires content providers to adhere to COPPA, and also imposes additional restrictions in how mobile campaigns are being promoted.


• Restrictions on use of single opt-in for Participation TV programs has been made more specific. Restrictions include maximum price ($1.49), transaction-only billing, and use of both verbal and visual pricing instructions during the call-to-action.


• The Best Practices document now also includes guidelines for WAP services and IVR based opt-in mechanisms.


• Further restrictions on running chat programs.

The MMA has also released two interesting documents providing some background information about running off-deck services and creating successful mobile marketing campaigns.

• 'Off Portal - An introduction to the Market Opportunity' introduces the reader to the world of direct-to-consumer mobile services, the market opportunity, and the best practices on how to create an off-portal service.


• 'Understanding Mobile Marketing - Technology and Reach' describes the opportunity of using short codes and mobile technology to create interactive marketing campaigns.

While these documents are certainly useful, it is good to keep in mind that these are 'sales documents', mainly written to promote the use of mobile services, hence not necessarily very objective, and most definitely overly optimistic in describing the overall market potential. One example: the mobile marketing case studies tend to be very long on descriptions, but very short on actual results. Hmmm.... now, why would that be ?

Change in Verizon Binary Message Flow

(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. The 'thank you' message should only be sent after the WAP Push message was successfully delivered. the customer has received a handset delivery receipt, indicating that the content was successfully delivered to the subscriber.

2. Change in billing API.

Quios customers need not worry about the change in the billing API. This change will be handled by Quios without any customer impact. However, Quios customers will need to make the proper message flow changes. The deadline for implementing these changes is August 10, 2007. Certification requests entered after July 16, 2007 will also need to adhere to the new message flow. Please contact your account representative in case of questions.

Sprint Payment Re-Capture

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 revenue as well as refunds, and do so retro-actively starting January 2007. Details on the possible negative impact for content providers are not known at this time, and as soon as we receive further information, we will immediately inform the impacted content providers.