spring 2008
Short Messaging Traffic Explodes!
Hot off the press...
The end of 2007 ended in a boom for the mobile messaging industry. Record breaking short message traffic was reported by numerous industry leaders and analysts. VeriSign reported a 128 percent increase in messaging traffic from Q4 2006 to Q4 2007 and Sybase estimated they processed 126 billion messages in the final quarter of 2007. Interop also saw this surge in messaging traffic with a 32 percent message traffic increase in just the fourth quarter alone.
The growth can be attributed to a number of factors. For many in the youth segment, messaging has become the preferred method of communication. MMetrics reported in February of 2008 that 78 percent of people ages 18-24 sent at least one text message to another phone in the previous month.
Messaging Forecast
Gartner Group forecasts that in 2008, 2.3 trillion messages will be sent worldwide. That is an estimated 20 percent increase from 2007’s 1.9 trillion messages. Revenue generated from messaging will increase about 16 percent in 2008 from $52 billion in 2007 to $60 billion.
“With the turnkey SMSC 4.0 from Interop Technologies in place, we can easily handle the increases in SMS traffic that we expect going forward.”
Mike Higgins, General Manager
West Central Wireless
Short code campaigns have increased in popularity along with an increase in the number of carriers providing connectivity to them. Mobile advertising has also driven messaging traffic and the number of advertisers and mobile internet users are both predicted to take off during 2008.
“The Interop CSC Gateway enables us to provide quality mobile content services to our customers in a way that is very capital efficient.”
Dennis Bloss, Vice President Immix Wireless
Centennial Wireless to Deploy Interop’s CSC Gateway
Centennial Wireless selected Interop Technologies to further its content and short code strategy in the marketplace. Centennial has contracted with Interop for the Common Short Code (CSC) Gateway to provide their customers with immediate connectivity to numerous aggregators and short code based campaigns and purchases. The CSC Gateway also accommodates the explosive growth in the use of short codes. Now Centennial Wireless subscribers will be able to purchase the latest wallpapers, ringtones and more and their purchases will conveniently appear on the regular monthly bills. “The Interop CSC Gateway will help us deliver a much broader offering of revenue-generating content,” said Jeremy Bracey, Marketing Director, Centennial Wireless. The CSC Gateway is scheduled to be deployed in Q2 2008.
“The hosted Interop OTA solution enables us to improve convenience for our customers with minimal capital investment.”
Mark Holt, Director of Business Development and Marketing Alaska DigiTel
CSC Gateway
Makes the mobile experience interactive!
• Access national campaigns
• Create local premium campaigns
• Participate in voting campaigns
• Integrate with any SMSC platform