€3.6bn of Additional SMS Revenue is Overlooked By Global Mobile Operators Each Year.

Posted by Fox on August 28, 2007 at 11:10 AM

Operators are not focussed on creating revenues from the most popular data application.

Anam Mobile today revealed that global mobile operators are losing out on as much as €3.6billion (£2.4billion) of revenue per year through lost opportunities to create value-added SMS messages. Anam’s review considers how operators can increase the average value of each text message sent across their networks.

Text messaging has grown into a phenomenally popular form of communication, with research from the telecoms analyst company Informa Telecoms & Media revealing that over 600 billion messages were sent worldwide during the first quarter of this year – over 75 messages for every mobile subscriber. Yet many operators are focussing on other, less well-established, data applications as they aim to increase ARPU and profitability.

By introducing new data services through SMS, operators can tap into the existing level of comfort that consumers already feel when using the short, 160 character format. This approach will make it easier for new services to be adopted and can attach real value to the messages that individuals already send.

“After voice, text messaging is still the most popular application on mobiles,” said Dan Winterbottom, Senior Analyst, Mobile Content & Applications at Informa Telecoms & Media. “Yet when it comes to innovation and new services, text messaging is being ignored by many operators in favour of new data services. There is an innate understanding by subscribers of how texting works, this could be utilised by operators when they introduce new services.”

Currently, a large proportion of text messages are included as part of bundled deals provided by operators and therefore are, in effect, free to the customer. This means that each individual message has a low perceived value to the user and almost no financial value to the operator.

However, there are many applications that could potentially be introduced to consumers through SMS. If the subscriber is able to use SMS to interact with their device in a more efficient, more enjoyable or more productive way, then they will be willing to pay a small additional fee for those SMS messages. The subscriber will accept that these messages fall outside of the ‘free’ text bundles, or add on a new bundle to their service plan; SMS messages are one of the few services that the user will always know how to use on their mobile phone.

Gerry McKenna, CEO of Anam says, “I am constantly surprised that, until now, operators have not fully grasped the opportunities available to them through SMS. The €3.5 billion of missed revenue can be earned by simply enhancing the text services that they offer customers. There doesn’t need to be a shift in consumer mobile behaviour - they can stick with their trusty SMS message, whilst the operator is able to create immediate results with additional revenue streams.”

Examples of the kind of services that could be introduced by operators to increase the value of text messages include:

• SMS money transfer: a service that allows global money transfers to contacts in your address book, merely by sending an SMS.
• Corporate functionality for your mobile: providing, amongst other things, a text message ‘out-of-office’ alert for your mobile phone, copying text messages to email, allowing individuals to set when they can be contacted and avoiding calls or messages being received during busy meetings or when driving for example.
• Mobile advertising: placing targeted ads inside text messages as they are sent that offer specific deals or offers. These could be offered free to users as advertisers fund the service.

Notes: The €3.6billion (£2.4billion) figure is based on an assumed total of 2,400 billion text messages being sent over 2007 – 600 billion in Q1 multiplied by four. If 1.5% of mobile subscribers send one money transfer text message per month, with an additional charge of €3.50 to cover the service, operators can generate an average extra revenue of €0.0015 for every text message sent on their network.

About Anam: Anam Mobile was one of the pioneers of the value-added sms services market. The company provides a complete messaging services solution to mobile operators worldwide, covering core network SMS and MMS delivery platforms and additional service control products. All Anam products are designed for the modern messaging services environment to allow operators to dramatically increase usage and revenues from text messaging. Anam’s patented Smart Services Interceptor Framework offers mobile operators the ability to rapidly launch new person-to-person messaging services worldwide through a flexible infrastructure that can be deployed in both GSM and CDMA networks. The framework allows operators to enrich and personalise the messaging experience for subscribers.

Anam Mobile has global customers including BT, Meteor, Citic and Go Mobile and partnerships with industry-leading players such as Cisco, Motorola, Ericsson, Amobee and Cloudmark. The company is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with offices in Boston, London and Malaysia.

Source : webitpr.com