SMSaaS has strong future with Telcos as ‘Gatekeepers’, says Pearson

Short Messaging System (SMS) remains a key tool for reaching everyone with unmatched service guarantees and has a strong future, according to researchers at the World Telecoms Lab (WTL)

Although, the activities of Over-The-Top (OTT) content providers’ such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, are petering the revenue base of the telecommunication network providers and Value-Added Service (VAS), however, the researchers have projected that Telcos’ ability to function as the ‘gatekeepers’ will expose them to the next goldmine: SMS-as-a-Service (SMSaaS).

The WTL’s report backs claims that “OTT apps, for all their consumer popularity, are still marginal in the A2P space. Operators still dominate”, thus, SMS retains the aura as an important service and unlike popular forms of IP messaging, it is genuinely ubiquitous.

Simon Pearson, business development director, World Telecom Labs told Nigeria CommunicationsWeek that SMS has levels of service performance that are simply not available from common IP-based solutions, which are typically closed-user communities.

“So even while IP messaging has grown in popularity between individuals, there’s no getting away from the fact that SMS provides a means to reach everyone. In particular, it also helps businesses communicate more effectively with their customers. It’s the only way in which they can reach all mobile users in their markets.

“As such, SMS is a premium service. It offers a degree of trackability, reliability and service quality that is simply not available with other messaging solutions. This provides an unrivalled set of service guarantees, which form the foundation of enterprise partnerships. A messaging service provider with access to SS7 network infrastructure can offer a level of service to its business partners that is far beyond the best effort that might be attainable by another messaging platform.