Banning bulk SMS seems to have become the natural reaction to any law-and-order issue. The government did it around the time of the Ayodhya verdict and did it again last week. Leave aside the fact that the fear spread was because of P2P SMS, rather than A2P SMS. The government had to be seen doing … Continue reading Yet Another SMS Ban
In this series, I will discuss the opportunities around A2P SMS. I have written earlier about the power and potential of push-based customer communications and Invertising. India has seen good innovation and growth in the use of SMS. However, recent actions by some operators are working to constrain the growth and negatively impact this industry. … Continue reading A2P SMS: The Business of SMS
Let us dig a little more into A2P SMS. There are four types of A2P SMS: Consumer – Opt-in: These are messages we receive for free when we subscribe (opt-in) to an SMS channel. MyToday offers 40+ editorially controlled SMS channels, while MyToday Mobs, SMS Gupshup and Google SMS channels have thousands of groups in … Continue reading A2P SMS: The Types of SMS
Continuing with the four types of A2P SMS: Business – Promotional: These are messages sent by businesses to their customers (current or prospective). In the case of prospective customers, messages are sent to those who are not on the Do Not Call Registry. They are not linked with any transaction, and are typically used to … Continue reading A2P SMS: The Types of SMS (Part 2)
As many of us have noticed, SMS is not carried on the same channel as Voice. What this means is that we can send and receive SMS even as we are speaking. SMS is actually carried on the SS7 signalling channel which is otherwise used for call set-up. As we all know, a single SMS … Continue reading A2P SMS: The Economics of SMS
In short, while a P2P SMS could cost 2p or so, an A2P SMS costs much lower (probably under 1 paisa) for the mobile operator. As an aside, P2P SMS pricing varies dramatically – we could pay as little as 5p as part of an SMS pack or as high as Re 1 or more. … Continue reading A2P SMS: The Economics of SMS (Part 2)
Description: Some operators have started initiating action to do bilateral agreements on SMS interconnect (P2P and A2P) The current situation is that of bill-and-keep – the operator through which the SMS is initiated does the billing and retains the revenue thus generated The current regime of no inter-connect charges payable between operators on SMS should … Continue reading A2P SMS: A Summary of the Interconnect Issue
To understand the dynamics of the A2P space, we will now need to stop being general and actually take names. The idea is not to offend or malign anyone, but lay out the facts so there can be a sensible debate about the issues involved. All of this is fairly common knowledge to everyone associated … Continue reading A2P SMS: Market Dynamics
Cut to 2008. Tata Teleservices Limited (TTSL) got aggressively into the A2P SMS business. They invested in SMS capacity and offered aggregators significant SMS capacity and aggressive pricing. This helped grow usage dramatically. Airtel lost market share in the A2P SMS business. With Airtel having more than a quarter of the mobile subscribers, it still … Continue reading A2P SMS: Market Dynamics (Part 2)
What does this mean for end customers? If other large operators followed Airtel with SMS interconnects, businesses would end up paying substantially higher prices for A2P SMS capacity. Given that SMS is becoming a necessity across many lines of business in various industries, this is an unfair penalty being imposed on enterprises and therefore on … Continue reading A2P SMS: The Impact of a High SMS Interconnect Charge
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