Premium SMS details
Markets and operators
Cellsynt offers Premium SMS in 23 countries and connects more than 110 mobile operators around the globe. Our mission is, as far as possible, to always provide 100% operator coverage in every individual country that we support. As new operators emerge in our current markets offering Premium SMS, we connect to them in order to reach the maximum potential of subscribers in that specific country.
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Available tariffs
A tariff is what a specific price level is called, i.e. the price that the consumer is being debited with VAT included, for instance 10 SEK or 1 €. For Premium SMS there are normally pre-defined tariffs available for use, unlike other payment solutions such as credit cards, where you can define the pricing to be any amount. Available tariffs are regulated nationally per country, either by mobile operators or a regulatory board.
Out-payments
Revenue from Premium SMS transactions are paid out monthly along with a statement of all transactions. The time for receiveing statements and out-payments vary between countries.
Short code
A short code is the number where the SMS order is being sent (in Sweden for instance, these are 5 digit numbers starting with 7, ex. 72456), and needs to be set-up individually for each operator. Normally this number is set-up with all operators in a country, in order to reach full coverage and allow for cross-carrier marketing.
Shared short codes and keywords
As it can be very expensive setting up a unique short code with every operator, short codes are often shared by several clients. In order to differentiate between various services operating on one short code, keywords are used to filter incoming messages (i.e. a prefix), where the keyword is the first word of the message. This way one can provide two various servies on one short code; for instance a service for payment of a background using the keyword PICTURE, and TONE for a ring tone.
Two types of billing: MT and MO
There are generally two types of billing for Premium SMS depending on whether the billing is performed for the incoming or outgoing message. The type of billing varies between operators and countries.
- MO stands for Mobile Originated. An MO SMS is an SMS sent from a mobile phone. MO billing is when the billing is performed for an incoming SMS sent by the consumer to a shortcode.
- MT stands for Mobile Terminated. An MT SMS is an SMS sent to a mobile phone (often in response to an incoming message). MT billing is when billing is being performed for an outgoing SMS sent to a consumer.
Regulations
Besides national law, each operator and usually one or several regulatory bodies in each country, have rules and regulations in regards to what kind of services one can run, and what kind of content is allowed to be charged for. In addition there are ethical rules and specific marketing rules and regulations that differ in every country. In Sweden for instance, there is the Ethics Board for Premium-rate services (Stiftelsen Etiska Rådet för Betalteletjänster), whose regulations we must adhere to. There is also an organisation called MORGAN, functioning as a forum and operator regulator, with regulations that the operators demand all providers to adhere to.
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