Short Message Service

The first step towards the creation of truly interactive SMS services was the development of mobile commerce. If at first mobile commerce services offered to pay by SMS for the purchase of java games, pictures or melodies, then later using SMS the user was able to manage his bank account, make money transfers, order and pay for services, including state ones. The functionality of such SMS services came close to websites and mobile applications, and their demand confirmed this.

However, SMS is used not only as a channel for providing mobile commerce services. Traditionally, SMS is used as an information channel. But the availability of SMS to each cellular subscriber and the obvious ease of use of the short message service attracted interest from providers of various services, access to which was previously possible only from devices with an Internet connection.

The development of short message technology has had an impact not only on communication between people, but also on the language of communication itself. The service limit of one message of 160 characters served as an impetus for the emergence of a new SMS language. Its impact has proved so severe that cuts such as:

• LOL (laughing out laud),
• OMG (oh my God),
• IMHO (in my humble opinion) и
• BFF (best friends forever)

were included in the Oxford English Dictionary.

Facts and figures

• December 3, 1992, the era of SMS began in the UK. On this day, the first SMS message was sent from the computer to the phone - Merry Christmas.
• In 1995, the average user sent 0.4 SMS messages per month.
• The introduction of real-time payment played a crucial role in the growing popularity of SMS around the world.
• In December 1998, the number of subscribers using prepaid fares was about 45,000.
• In 1998, the T9 predictive text input system appeared. The first phone to support T9 appeared on the market in 1999.
• In 2000, 17 billion messages were sent.
• According to Informa Telecoms & Media, 352 billion messages were sent in 2002.
• The SMS service was mainly used by young people, especially girls.
• According to Informa Telecoms & Media, 918 billion messages were sent in 2004.
• There is a mailing of SMS reminders, thanks to which users no longer forget about the appointed visit, for example, to a dentist or to a hairdresser, or that you need to pick up plane tickets.
• In 2008, the number of messages sent was 4.8 trillion.
• In 2012, according to a study by Ericsson ConsumerLab, users between the ages of 13 and 17 prefer SMS messages to calls and emails, especially when it comes to issues such as dating.
• Even NASA has launched its own SMS service: with its help, astronomy lovers can receive notifications on a mobile phone every time the International Space Station flies over their home.

How SMS works: short video

Jackson Roberts made this video as a school project. What happens when you send a message? The moment you click on the touchscreen in the place where the "send" symbol is drawn, you change the electric field under the glass. This change is recorded and processed; the driver processes the movement of your finger and interprets it as a command to turn on the radio transmitter. The transmitter sends a radio wave, it is picked up by the base station, the signal is transmitted to the satellite and back to Earth, where it is received by another base station closest to the destination. From the station, the signal goes to the receiver in the addressee's smartphone - and a message appears on the screen.

SMS mailings

2021

World's first SMS message sold as NFT for 132,680 euros

In December 2021, the world's first SMS message was auctioned off by Aguttes in Paris in the format of a non-replaceable token (NFT). An unknown buyer paid €132,680 for the lot. He received the original communication protocol through which the message was transmitted, as well as a digital frame depicting the message. Read more here.

The law on blocking calls and SMS from abroad by substitution numbers came into force in the Russian Federation

On December 1, 2021, a law came into force on blocking calls and SMS messages from abroad to Russia by substitution numbers by telecom operators. Read more here.

2019

Any phone can be hacked with a simple SMS message

In September 2019, it became known that any phone can be hacked with a simple SMS message. The vulnerability, called Simjacker, was reported by AdaptiveMobile Security, a security company. Read more here.

Experts estimated the savings of banks from the cancellation of SMS notifications

The savings of banks on customers who have already switched from SMS to push notifications can range from 25% to 80%, experts said. This was reported in August by Izvestia^[1].

According to experts, the costs of the financial sector for SMS alerts amount to about 20 billion rubles a year. Thus, the total savings can amount to 5-6 billion rubles. However, if the user does not have the Internet, the bank is obliged to send him an SMS, which is an additional financial burden.

The Central Bank said that according to the law, the bank is obliged to inform the client about each payment card transaction. The procedure for such a notification is established in the contract with the client, the regulator emphasized.

The banks confirmed that push notifications are much cheaper than SMS. Also, the transition to push notifications is especially beneficial against the background of constantly increasing prices for mobile operators for the service. At the same time, only three banks from the top 10 do not charge for push notifications: VTB, Alfa-Bank and Promsvyazbank. On average, every month customers have to spend 60 rubles on the notification service both in SMS and in push format. In some banks, at certain tariffs, this amount reaches 600 rubles. Push notifications to credit institutions are almost free.

In Alfa-Bank, the share of the new information channel in the total volume of notifications is more than 50%, in Sovcombank - more than 30%, in Raiffeisen Bank - 25%, in Citibank - 15%, told in credit institutions. About 80% of users of the Moscow Credit Bank application have already switched from SMS to push notifications, and about 90% in St. Petersburg Bank.

Megafon challenged in court the decision of the FAS in the case of SMS mailings

On August 21, 2019, it became known that the Moscow Arbitration Court satisfied Megafon's claim against the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). The lawsuit was filed in connection with the decision of the FAS of May 2019, in which the company was recognized as a violator of antimonopoly legislation in terms of increasing the cost of SMS mailings and establishing unequal conditions for state and non-state banks.

"We believe that the court has reached a reasonable conclusion on the illegality of the decision. The case file contains all the evidence that telecom operators do not occupy a dominant position by providing SMS-informing services. This position was previously repeatedly confirmed during the consideration of a similar court case by the courts of all instances, up to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, " noted the representative of "Megafon"

The FAS press service confirmed to Rambler News Services (RNS) the loss of the case in arbitration, adding that it expects the full text of the court's decision. The proceedings in the FAS concern not only Megafon, but also three other federal mobile operators - VimpelCom (Beeline trademark), T2 Mobile (Tele2 trademark) and Mobile Telesystems (MTS). Complaints about the increase in prices for SMS mailings by these operators in 2017 were filed by the Russian Standard Bank and the National Financial Market Council (NSFR) non-profit partnership (NSFR).

The FAS obliged all four operators to eliminate violations, but this did not happen. After that, the FAS opened cases against all four companies and in May 2019 recognized them as all violators of antitrust laws. VimpelCom, Tele2 and Megafon did not agree with these verdicts and filed lawsuits against the department. As of August 2019, the consideration of the claims of VimpelCom and Tele2 has not yet been completed.

As follows from the materials of the FAS, the largest increase in prices occurred at Megafon. The company provides relevant services through two services: "Mobile information. FIX "and" Mobile Information. " The first service assumes the same cost of sending SMS regardless of their type.

In the second service, it is assumed to differentiate prices depending on the type of SMS: transactional, advertising or service. This service also allows you to purchase message packages with a reduced price for sending one SMS (the so-called step charging).

Until March 2018, the tariff "Mobile information. FIX "assumed the cost of sending one SMS 1.5 rubles. on numbers inside Megafon and 1.6 rubles. on numbers to other networks. In the tariff "Mobile informing" without connecting packages, the cost of sending one advertising SMS was 1.4 rubles, service - 0.92 rubles, transaction - 0.3 rubles. When connecting packages for sending service SMS, the subscription fee ranged from 0 to 60 million rubles. per month, the volume of SMS included in the package is from 0 to 300 million, the cost of one SMS in excess of the package is 0.92 rubles. up to 0.2 rubles. When connecting a package for advertising messages, the subscription fee ranged from 0 to 132 million rubles. per month, the volume of SMS included in the package - from 0 300 million, the cost of sending one SMS in excess of the package - from 1.4 rubles. up to 0.44 rubles.

From March 1, 2018, the cost of sending SMS within the framework of the tariff "Mobile information. FIX "amounted to 1.9 rubles. for messages within the Megafon network and 2 rubles. for messages to other networks. That is, the rise in price was 25-27%. In the "Mobile informing" tariff, the cost of sending one advertising SMS amounted to 1.8 rubles, service 1.45 rubles, transaction 1.1 rubles. Accordingly, for advertising messages, the price increase was 29%, for service messages - 58%, for transactional messages - 267%. Banks send out primarily transactional messages, so the rise in prices turned out to be especially sensitive for them. In the case of connecting a package for service messages, the subscription fee ranged from 0 to 6 million rubles. per month, the volume of messages included in it - from 0 to 5 million, the cost of sending one SMS in excess of the package - from 1.45 rubles. up to 1.2 rubles. When connecting a package for advertising messages, the size of the subscription fee is from 0 to 7.5 million rubles. per month, the volume of messages included in the package is from 0 to 5 million, the cost of sending one SMS in excess of the package is from 1.8 rubles. up to 1.5 rubles.

As the FAS concluded, earlier, when applying step charging in Megafon, the cost of sending one service SMS began from 0.2 rubles, later the minimum cost was 1.2 rubles. That is, the tariff increase was 500%. For advertising SMS, when using step charging, the minimum cost of sending one message increased from 0.44 rubles to 1.5 rubles, that is, the increase was 241%. In addition, if until March 2018 Megafon applied 23 steps for step charging, then from March 2018 it began to use only six.

Until April 2018, VimpelCom had a cost of sending one transactional SMS of 0.25 rubles, advertising SMS with step charging - from 1.38 rubles. up to 1.49 rubles, one service SMS from 0.89 rubles. up to 1.36 rubles. In April 2018, the cost of sending service SMS with step charging increased, depending on the volume, from 46% to 194%. The cost of sending advertising SMS with step charging, depending on the volume, increased from 46% to 194%.

In November 2016, MTS established differentiated tariffs for sending one SMS as part of corporate mailing services: 1.15 rubles. when sending up to 100 thousand messages per month, 0.75 rubles. when sending from 100 thousand to 3 million messages and 0.6 rubles. when sending more than 3 million messages. But a year later, in November 2017, MTS established a single tariff for sending one SMS - 1.5 rubles. Accordingly, the price increase amounted to 120%.

Until March 2017, Tele2 had a minimum cost of sending one SMS of 1.07 rubles. for transactional messages, 1.1 rubles. for information messages and 1.23 rubles. for advertising messages. The operator uses step charging, that is, the tariff for sending one message decreases with an increase in the total number of messages sent. The maximum step-charging step is 20 million messages per month. If this volume is exceeded, the cost of sending one transactional SMS was 0.49 rubles, service - 0.51 rubles, advertising - 0.69 rubles.

From March 1, 2018, the cost of sending one transactional SMS, depending on the volume, ranged from 1.09 rubles. up to 0.52 rubles, one service message - from 1.21 rubles. up to 1.01 rubles, one advertising message - from 1.55 rubles. up to 1.25 rubles. Accordingly, for service SMS messages, price increases ranged from 10% to 98%, for advertising messages - from 26% to 81%. For transactional messages, the price increase turned out to be insignificant - from 2% to 6%.

Cellular operators tried to prove to the FAS that they do not occupy a dominant position in the market for sending information messages. Taking into account the current state of development of communication networks, the commodity boundaries of this market, in addition to SMS, also includes e-mail, push notifications and instant messengers.

However, Russian Standard Bank objected that the most convenient way to inform customers is still SMS. Raifeisenbank, Tinkoff Bank, Sovcombank, Raiffeisen Bank Bank, and Renaissance Credit Bank agreed with this position. FAS conducted its own consumer survey, the results of which also confirmed the statement of the Russian Standard^[2]

Banks spent 20 billion on SMS and switch to push notifications

In 2018, banks in Russia spent a total of 20 billion rubles on sending SMS messages, according to AC&M Consulting, whose data were presented at the end of May 2019. Against the background of the growth of operator tariffs, credit organizations are increasingly mastering push notifications.

Main article Russian market of banking informatization

Banks pay cellular companies to send each SMS. Over the past few years, the cost of one such message has increased 0.03 to 0.7-1 rubles, two market participants told RBC at the end of May 2019.

Sending SMS in 2018 cost banks in Russia 20 billion rubles. They go to push notifications

For customers, the push notification service costs the same as informing via SMS (in some banks this service is free). At the same time, sending messages through the push channel costs banks less.

The highest share of push notifications of the total number of messages (about 30%) that the bank sends to customers turned out to be. The Alfa-Bank Raiffeisen Bank ratio of push notifications and SMS messages is 1 to 3, while Otkritie Bank's share of push notifications reaches 25%. Sberbank The indicator is about 20%, Moscow Credit Bank the indicator is 15%.

The advantages of this technology include its free (a number of banks save by using push notifications from 15 to 25% of the cost of notifying customers), as well as the ability to transfer more information due to the adaptability of the service to mobile devices.

However, banks will not be able to completely abandon SMS mailings, says Oksana Pankratova, an analyst at AC&M Consulting. To send push notifications, three conditions must be met at the same time: the client has a smartphone, a bank application installed on it and an Internet connection.

In Russia, the penetration of smartphones is about 70%, and there are many places where mobile Internet does not work, so the push channel does not give a 100% guarantee of message delivery, the expert explained.[3]

FAS recognized VimpelCom, MTS and Tele2 as violators of antimonopoly legislation

On May 15, 2019, it became known that the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) recognized mobile operators Mobile Telesystems (MTS), VimpelCom and T2 Mobile as violators of the Law on Protection of Competition. We are talking about the establishment of discriminatory conditions when forming tariffs for SMS mailings for state and commercial organizations that put consumers in an unequal position.

As reported, back in 2017, the FAS received a complaint from the National Council of the Financial Market (NSFR) due to rising prices for SMS mailings. After that, an investigation into this fact began.

In the summer of 2018, the FAS issued an order to these mobile operators, as well as Megafon, to eliminate the difference in tariffs for SMS mailings for commercial and state banks. The order was not eliminated, in connection with which the FAS opened a case against all four operators.

The FAS found that the difference in tariffs for SMS mailings for public and private companies can reach 10 times. Such a circumstance creates discriminatory conditions and contradicts antitrust laws.

FAS recognized: VimpelCom, MTS and Tele2 set a different price for SMS mailings for state and private banks One example where discrimination is observed is the sending of information, service and transactional SMS by banks. The situation is aggravated by the fact that in 2018 a law was adopted obliging banks to inform borrowers about the debt and the balance of the lending limit when performing each card transaction.

Which state-owned banks mobile operators make discounts on SMS mailings is not reported. However, it is known that from retail banks under control states are Sberbank and. VTB

So far, VimpelCom, MTS and Tele2 have been recognized as violators of antimonopoly legislation. The consideration of the case against Megafon will take place on May 16, 2019. In addition, another separate violation was revealed by VimpelCom: the operator canceled the possibility of transliterating SMS messages from Cyrillic to Latin.

Since the maximum length of an SMS message in Cyrillic is half the maximum length of a message in Latin, this led to an increase in the cost of sending SMS messages by half. At the same time, VimpelCom did not substantiate this kind of action in any way.

MTS announced its disagreement with the decision of the FAS. The company does not dominate the market, since SMS is not the only channel for informing subscribers. Mailing customers have several ways to inform their customers, such as through email, push notifications, and applications.

Tele2 announced its disagreement with the accusations made in the FAS press release. The operator will make a decision to appeal the actions of the department after receiving the text of the prescription and the decision of the FAS. VimpelCom did not comment on the situation.

It was also reported that this is not the first attempt by the FAS to regulate the SMS market. In 2015, changes in legislation came into force, obliging mobile operators to fight SMS spam.

Most customers, as a rule, connect mailings through SMS aggregators. Until then, operators set discounts to aggregators based on the total volume of messages sent by all their customers. After changes in the legislation, cellular operators switched to a per-account charging model: each specific customer was identified, and based on the volume of messages sent to him, a discount was given to him.

Since the total amount of SMS passing through one aggregator is more than the amount of SMS sent by any of its clients, prices for SMS mailings have increased significantly. Thus, in 2014-2015. the cost of mailings through the MTS network increased by 177%, through Megafon - by 116%.

The FAS obliged cellular operators to eliminate this violation. However, VimpelCom and Tele2 successfully appealed the FAS order to the Arbitration Court, and it was canceled.^[4]

J'son & Partners Consulting: revenue of the Russian mobile information market amounted to 22.97 billion rubles

J'son & Partners Consulting (Jason & Partners Consulting) presented in April 2019 brief results of a study of the Russian mobile information market 2017-2021. Today, in mobile information in the A2P (Application-to-Person) segment, two large sub-segments can be distinguished: SMS-mailing and informing via instant messengers.

In general, the revenue of the A2P mobile information market (via SMS mailings and instant messengers) according to J'son & Partners Consulting experts in 2018 amounted to 22.97 billion rubles. The market will continue to grow dynamically and will reach almost 37 billion rubles by 2021.

SMS mailings are one of their main, well-proven methods of mobile information and a tool for mobile marketing. In contrast to negative forecasts for the development of the global SMS market in Russia, the service demonstrates a steady upward trend.

The main driver will be the development of the banking newsletter segment, which is influenced by the growth of the mobile audience and the development of mobile payments. Retail, visa centers, embassies, government agencies will also not refuse SMS mailing, as they ensure the reliability of information delivery to the client.

The main competitor of SMS mailings in the client notification market in the A2P segment is instant messengers, which repeats the global trend. In Russia, according to a survey conducted by J'son & Partners Consulting in 2018, the five most popular mobile messengers and social networks included VKontakte, Whatsapp, Viber, Telegram and Skype).

2018

Banks spent 20 billion rubles on SMS and switch to push notifications

In 2018, banks in Russia spent a total of 20 billion rubles on sending SMS messages, according to AC&M Consulting, whose data were presented at the end of May 2019. Against the background of the growth of operator tariffs, credit organizations are increasingly mastering push notifications. Read more here.

FAS against the "big four"

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) opened cases in August against the four largest Russian mobile operators - VimpelCom (Beeline trademark), MTS, Megafon and T2 Mobile (Tele2). The reason for initiating cases was that operators set different prices for mass SMS messaging services for different banks. Consideration of cases will begin in September 2018^[5]

Like other organizations, banks use SMS to notify customers about transactions on their accounts, as well as send information and service messages. Banks are obliged to inform customers about card transactions in accordance with the law "On the National Payment System."

The FAS investigation showed that organizations with state participation in the capital are provided with SMS-mailing services on some terms, and completely private organizations on others. The difference in the conditions of the FAS is characterized as significant.

The regulator concluded that the operators created discriminatory conditions, putting SMS consumers in an unequal position. Their actions were qualified as a violation of paragraph 8 of part 1 of article 10 of the law "On Protection of Competition," the cases were initiated on the basis of part 8 of article 39.1 of the same law.

2017

FAS could not force operators to reduce prices for SMS mailings

On December 18, 2017, the appellate instance confirmed the verdict of the court of first instance on the cancellation of the order FAS in the case of SMS the dispatches.

The FAS demanded that VimpelCom, MTS, Megafon and Tele2 cancel the accounting model, the introduction of which led to a sharp increase in prices for SMS mailings. But the court decided - the antimonopoly department did not understand the issue, and sided with the operators.

In this decision, the court declared illegal the FAS order issued in the spring of 2017, obliging mobile operators - VimpelCom, MTS, Megafon and Tele2 - to cancel the per-account charging of SMS mailings.

The FAS filed a complaint with the National Processing Center (NPS) and Sogaz-Med Insurance Company. They indicated that in late 2014 - early 2015, SMS aggregators that they use for SMS mailings - SMS Traffic, Devino Telecom, SMS Center and Innovative Technologies - multiplied the cost of mailings to subscribers of these mobile operators. The reason for this is a change in the tariff policy of operators.

Reasons for the rise in price of SMS mailings

In 2014, amendments to the Law "On Communications" came into force, obliging mobile operators to fight SMS spam. Including operators were obliged to identify the end customers of mailings, check for the consent of the subscriber to receive the distribution and stop mailings at the request of users.

Usually SMS mailing customers connect to cellular operators not directly, but through intermediaries - SMS aggregators. Earlier, the cellular operator issued a discount to the SMS aggregator based on the volume of messages sent by all its customers. This allowed the aggregator to provide a discount to its customers and gain margins.

But after changes in legislation, first Megafon and MTS, then VimpelCom and Tele2 introduced an accrued billing model: the discount is calculated individually for each customer of mailings. Since on average 100 million messages pass through one SMS aggregator, and 30 thousand through one customer, prices for SMS mailings have increased:

• Megaphone - 105-116%,
• MTS - 167-177%,
• VimpelCom - 77%,
• Tele2 - 33%.

And SMS aggregators were forced to introduce an additional service commission.

Considering the complaint, the FAS commission found that the regional cellular operator Yekaterinburg-2000 (trademark "Motive") did not switch to a per-account billing model and, as a result, there was no increase in prices for SMS-mailing to its subscribers.

According to the results of the consideration of the case, the FAS recognized Megafon, MTS, VimpelCom and Tele2 guilty of abuse of dominant positions and obliged them to cancel the account charging, and set a discount based on the total volume of all sent SMS-through one aggregator.

VimpelCom and Tele2 did not agree with the FAS verdict and went to court. He took the side of the operators. The court found that the FAS issued a verdict based on an analytical report on the state of the SMS mailing market. At the same time, the FAS violated the norms of legislation and its own explanations, without specifying in this report the volume of the relevant commodity market and the percentage shares held by business entities.

FAS proceeded from the fact that VimpelCom, MTS, Megafon and Tele2 occupy a dominant position in the SMS mailing market, because they are engaged in a dominant position in the cellular market. However, the court indicated that these are two completely different markets, and cellular network access and SMS mailing services are not interchangeable.

In the analytical report, the FAS did not describe the role of SMS aggregators: they are not assigned either to service providers (telecom operators) or to consumers (service customers).

According to the court, the conclusion that the transition to a per-account charging model is not profitable for SMS customers is not correct. Such a charging model is necessary for cellular operators to fulfill the requirements of the Law "On Communication" on the identification of mailing customers. Also, with the transition to a per-account charging model, cellular operators were able to introduce the service "Partner SMS Services," which allows you to create SMS message templates, apply individual settings, etc.

Finally, the court indicated that the end customers are buyers in the SMS mailing market, therefore, from the point of view of the operator, it is more correct to stimulate them, and not aggregators, with discounts to increase the volume of mailing. In addition, as indicated in the report of TMT Consulting submitted by the FAS and the court, end customers of mailings have a choice between different channels for sending mailings: instant messengers, e-mail, etc.

The FAS did not agree with the cancellation by the court of first instance of its order and filed an appeal. It was joined by the initiators of the hearings in the FAS - NPS and Sogaz-Med Insurance Company. The plaintiffs - VimpelCom and Tele2 - objected to the satisfaction of the appeal, MTS joined them.

As a result, the appellate instance confirmed the verdict of the Moscow Arbitration Court on the cancellation of the FAS order, agreeing with the court's conclusions^[6].

FAS issued an order due to an increase in the cost of SMS mailing

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia issued an order to Russian mobile operators due to an increase in the cost of sending SMS messages. The law was violated by MTS, Megafon, VimpelCom (Beeline) and T2 Mobile (Tele2).

According to the FAS, from October 2014 to December 2015, companies introduced a new procedure for calculating with SMS aggregators for messaging services, according to which aggregators began to pay for SMS traffic based on the tariff scale for the volume of each end customer.

Previously, there was a system for calculating the cost of services by its total volume, directed from all end customers of SMS mailings to the network of the telecom operator through the equipment of the SMS aggregator. "This made it possible to set a lower tariff for messaging services for end customers of mailings," the FAS noted, adding that as a result of the introduction of accounting for the volume of SMS traffic of each client separately, the tariffs for sending SMS messages for end customers of mailings increased significantly.

Earlier, the FAS launched an investigation into telecom operators for setting roaming prices. In January, the service opened a case against MegaFon for establishing monopolistically high prices for calls, SMS and the Internet while ^[7]

2016

The number of SMS mailings in Russia has decreased

In the Russian market, the volume of electronic messages sent to inform several or more users increased by 2.1 billion units during 2016 - from 150.3 billion in 2015 to 152.4 billion in 2016. At the same time, the share of e-mail increased slightly, the number of SMS, on the contrary, decreased - against the background of a noticeable increase in the distribution of messages through mobile messengers.

The main options for information using electronic means:

• free for SMS user,
• paid SMS (information from banks, entertainment services, etc.),
• emails,
• messages through messengers and mobile applications,
• voice information (both by call centers specialists and using an auto-informant program).

Volume of mass messaging (informing) market in the Russian Federation, 2015-2016, billion messages

In 2016, messengers received the largest growth in% terms. This growth was due to the more attractive cost and sufficient volume of messages. The number of notification connections (using SMS on a paid basis) amounted to about 35%, i.e. 87.5 million. They generate part of the paid SMS traffic in the amount of 15.5 billion messages.

Free SMS distribution accounts for no more than a third of all messaging options, while e-mail delivery accounts for 53% of all messages, which indicates the clear dominance of this option.

Channels for receiving information and advertising messages from organizations by the population of the Russian Federation

The decline in the number of SMS in the world continues

2014

Subscribers receive more service messages than advertising messages

The number of transactional SMS messages received by cellular subscribers exceeds the number of advertising messages. Advertising messages account for only 12% of the subscriber's total incoming traffic. The volume of incoming traffic of mobile phone users was calculated by Devino Telecom.

Transactional mailing (transfer data) accounts for 48% of the total number of incoming messages. Another 40% is the share of service SMS (information about taxi service, data on bonus accrual, information about order readiness).

At the same time, SMS notifications from banking structures, information about taxi filing and messages related to purchases in online stores are much more often received by subscribers. It is noteworthy that residents of megacities receive 3 times more SMS messages than residents of small cities.

On average, one resident of the metropolis receives more than 25 information SMS messages of various types every month. Such indicators were recorded in 44% of mobile phone users. A third of subscribers receive 10 to 15 messages every month. From 15 to 25 SMS come to the phone of 25% of users.

The flow of messages with illegal advertising has decreased. According to think tank Devino Telecom, 287,335 posts were blocked by moderators in July. This is almost 200,000 less, compared with the data recorded in June - 454,678 SMS.

According to the results of 2014, the TOP-5 of industries that use SMS marketing included according to Devino Telecom:

• 1.267.420.024 SMS - Retail networks of the federal level (all types of goods)
• 94.380.497 SMS - Taxis and Carriers (Taxi Ordering Services and Logistics Companies)
• 89.102.434 SMS - Realtors (companies and real estate search/sale services)
• 21.574.394 SMS - Auto (technical centers, car dealers, thematic sites)
• 13.790.493 SMS - Entertainment (restaurants, cinemas, clubs)

The SMS information market consists of 60% transactional SMS and, accordingly, 40% informational SMS. Transactional is information about the movement of funds in the subscriber's bank account. Information traffic is divided into service and advertising. The service includes messages caused by any actions of the recipient: ordering a taxi or air ticket and a message about filing a car or a change in booking, buying in an online store and SMS with information about the status of the order (collected/sent/delivered). Advertising traffic - messages advertising a product or service.

Forecast SMS mailing market size until 2020

Unified mobile platform of the city of Moscow (EMP)

One of the striking examples of using SMS as an effective channel for providing a variety of interactive services is the Unified Mobile Platform of the City of Moscow (EMP). EMP is an urban mobile infrastructure that ensures the interaction of industry information systems and mobile services provided in the form of mobile applications or SMS/USSD services. Within the framework of the platform, more than 20 different SMS services have been implemented, allowing citizens to receive city electronic services, including obtaining information about traffic police fines, making an appointment with a doctor, transmitting readings from water and electricity meters, and monitoring school attendance. The social nature of many urban services has determined the need to ensure maximum audience reach. Therefore, most of the services are equally available to both smartphone users and owners of the simplest mobile phones.

Service "Traffic police fines"

One of the most popular Moscow city services is the Traffic Police Fines service. With the help of this service, users can either independently check for unpaid fines, or subscribe to interactive SMS alerts that inform them in a timely manner about receiving a new fine. During the comparative analysis of the data, it turned out that, despite the opportunity for smartphone users to view fines through the application and receive notifications in the form of push notifications, most prefer to receive information about new fines in the form of SMS: more than 300 thousand SMS requests to the service are recorded monthly, and the total number of users exceeded 160 thousand.

Service "Evacuation"

You can evaluate the interactive capabilities of SMS using the example of another popular city service - "Evacuation." Thanks to this service, Moscow drivers have the opportunity to receive information about the fact of evacuation of their car: evacuation time, reason, penalty address. As in the case of the Traffic Police Fines service, the overwhelming number of users of this service use SMS to receive information: more than 19 thousand SMS requests to the service are recorded monthly, and the total number of users has exceeded 50 thousand. The "efficiency" of SMS, independence from the quality of communication or the availability of an Internet connection determined the significant predominance of SMS subscriptions over push notifications.

2013

According to a report by the analytical company J'son & Partners Consulting (Jason & Partners Consulting), the SMS distribution market in Russia in 2013 grew 1.7 times - to $101 million against $60 million in 2012. According to analysts, most of the total volume of SMS mailings - or 70% - were SMS notifications of banks to their customers. The rest of the mailing traffic was advertising messages of retail chains, online stores, road carriers, service enterprises, electronic payment systems. At the same time, a significant part of advertising traffic was spam.

The distribution price range is very wide and varies from 4 kopecks per SMS (for "black" aggregators for the case of a large volume of mailings) to 1.35 rubles (with a low volume of mailings from one of the Big Three operators). Until the end of 2013, SMS-mailings were carried out according to a scheme that did not require the conclusion of direct contracts with the operator. That is, the customer company of SMS-mailing could use the services of not operators, but intermediaries who did not conclude contracts with mobile operators directly. Since the end of 2013, the largest cellular operators have taken a number of measures to prevent SMS spam to their subscribers. Thus, Megafon, MTS, Tele2 began to block incoming SMS mailings from short and alphanumeric numbers of the sender or SMS aggregator, which does not have a direct agreement with the operator. As a result, the volume of spam began to decrease.

According to cellular operators, the volume of SMS spam after the implementation of measures to curb it decreased by 3-4.5 times. According to the forecast of J'son & Partners, the growth rate of the SMS distribution market in Russia will slow down due to the measures taken to combat spam. This market is expected to reach $137 million in the country in 2016.

1992: First SMS sent

On December 6, 1992, in England, Sema employees sent the world's first SMS message - "Happy Christmas."

SMS mailings in Belarus

The draft Council of Ministers on amendments to the Rules for the Provision of Telecommunication Services, approved by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus of August 17, 2006, was submitted for public discussion, Olga Fedoreeva, head of the telecommunications department of the Ministry of Communications and Informatization, told BelTA in February 2017. The draft resolution also establishes the quality parameters of the services provided for cellular mobile telecommunication networks, terrestrial digital television broadcasting and cable television systems^[8].

First of all, the media became interested in the idea of ​ ​ streamlining SMS mailings. "It is proposed to resolve the procedure for operators when sending messages. These adjustments are associated with a stream of messages, including advertising ones, that subscribers would not like to receive, "Ms. Fedoreeva commented on the initiative

The draft resolution proposes to amend the Rules for the provision of telecommunication services in terms of securing the obligation of the telecommunication operator to send SMS to the networks of other telecommunication operators only if there are agreements concluded with such operators for receiving and sending SMS. The telecommunication operator will be obliged to send SMS only with the indication of the subscriber number or unique identification code, and upon the written application of the subscriber, stop the transmission of SMS messages. An exception is made only for operator messages about telecommunication services and messages "transmitted by the operator in accordance with the law."

The project also defines technical indicators characterizing the availability of the network, continuity of communication, quality of voice transmission, quality of data transmission services. Quality parameters provided by operators shall not be worse than the parameters specified in the Appendix.

For terrestrial digital television broadcasting and cable television systems, technical indicators are determined that directly affect the perception of quality, image and sound. These parameters will become control parameters when resolving disagreements between the telecommunication operator and subscribers. "If disputes arise between the operator and the subscriber, these indicators will be measured by specialists. If they do not correspond to what is spelled out in the documents, the operator provides a poor-quality service, "Olga Fedoreeva explained. The project takes into account such indicators as the bit error rate after the external decoder, the deviation from the center frequency, the difference in voltage levels of the image and audio signals in the distribution channel, the modulation error rate and other parameters.

Revenues of telecom operators from SMS and MMS in the world

2013

The global revenues of telecom operators from SMS and MMS messaging services in 2013 for the first time in history decreased - by 4% to 104 billion dollars after reaching a peak in 2012, according to data from Strategy Analytics.

By 2017, operators' revenue from SMS and MMS will decrease by 20%, analysts predict. The reason for the decrease in the revenue of global operators from SMS and MMS is the active growth in the popularity of the so-called over-the-top (OTT) services that use the Internet to transmit instant text and voice messages, for example WhatsApp.

In developed regions, where usage is especially high, smartphones the decline in SMS and MMS transmission revenue by 2017 will be even more noticeable - by 38% North America in and 28% in Western, Strategy To Europe Analytics reports.

SMS spam

Main article: SMS-spam

SMS fraud

2022: Russians began to be deceived through SMS forwarding

Another scenario of telephone fraud using social engineering methods was recorded. Under the guise of employees of mobile operators, fraudsters force the client to configure SMS forwarding in order to then gain access to the online bank. This was reported to TAdviser by VTB representatives on June 28, 2022. Read more here.

Mixing (SMiShing)

For several years, hackers used a technique known as phishing. With its help, they sent victims emails allegedly from the bank, as a result of which they fraudulently tried to obtain registration data to access the bank account. Since people have become more aware and better recognize phishing emails, as a result of which there are fewer victims of phishing, hackers have changed their tactics and focused their attention on our phones.

Mixing is conceptually very similar: instead of sending emails, hackers began to send text SMS messages to their victims. Each of these messages is designed to deceive people in order to obtain extremely important personal information from them, for example, a PIN code to access their online bank. Some smashing messages will direct their victims to a false website or ask to download the necessary application, which is actually infected with malware.

For more information about phishing in SMS, see this post.

Blocked Card Information

The minimum amount of damage from SMS fraudsters is 100 rubles, and the maximum is tens of thousands and is limited only by the limit of the victim's bank account.

According to Devino Telecom, which organizes SMS information, the texts of all fraudulent messages are similar to each other:

• Your card has been temporarily suspended. Help by phone * * * * *
• Your card has been blocked. Info by body: * * * * * CBA CB.
• Good afternoon. I accidentally transferred you 300p I would appreciate it if you put money on the phone * * * * * Alexander
• Master card blocked. To order a new one, send an SMS with the word "card" to the number * * * * *

The set of SMS sent by scammers is quite standard. So, for example, according to the statistics of the federal mobile operator Tele2, recipients of SMS mailings complain about false appeals from banks about blocking plastic cards (53% of messages), SMS information about winning (18%), advertising messages with links to fraudulent sites (18%), requests to return mistakenly listed funds or replenish the balance of a particular phone (2%).

No matter what tricks the scammers go to, it is not so difficult to avoid deception - it is enough not to write response messages and not call the phones indicated in SMS. However, it is impossible to do without the adoption of controlling measures by mobile operators and service providers.

To solve the problem of SMS fraud, as well as the fight against spam, it is necessary to be more responsible for the content of the distributed SMS messages, according to Devino Telecom. To this end, the company has introduced a two-line traffic pre-moderation. Every month, the company's moderators block about half a million messages of illegal content.

Significantly reduce the volume of fraudulent mailings will allow fixing the name of the sender for the customer of the distribution for all telecom operators - creating a register of sender names, by analogy with the register of domain names. This will eliminate the possibility of sending messages on behalf of someone else, for example, on behalf of the bank, and will greatly simplify the process of tracking spammers and scammers. It is worth noting that fraudulent mailings on behalf of Sberbank were previously recorded in Kirov.

The sender's name is assigned separately to each cellular operator. At the same time, operators do not compare the data they have indicated by distribution customers during registration. Thus, by right of precedence, the name of the sender of a well-known brand can be taken, which then allows fraudulent mailings.

Creating a single sender name register will minimize the possibility of fraudulent mailings on behalf of banks or well-known companies.

Multivariate (two-factor) authentication

Шаблон:Main 'Multi-factor (two-factor) authentication

RCS (Rich Communication Services)

RCS (Rich Communication Services) is a communication protocol between cellular operators, as well as between operators and devices, developed by the GSM association in 2008. Unlike the outdated SMS - it was first tested back in 1992 - RCS allows not only to exchange individual messages, but also chat with two or more users, share files and content, make audio and video calls, exchange geolocation data, send audio messages, keep a black list.

5G Messages

On April 9, 2020, it became known that China has developed 5G Messages messaging technology that uses the capabilities of fifth-generation cellular networks. Three of China's largest mobile operators, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom, are working on it, and it is positioned as a replacement for SMS technology.

Notes