Developmental History: Short Message Service SMS
Developmental History: Short Message Service SMS
In addition to recreational texting between people, SMS is also used for mobile marketing (a type of
direct marketing),[6] two-factor authentication logging-in,[7] televoting,[8] mobile banking (see SMS
banking), and for other commercial content.[9] The SMS standard has been hugely popular worldwide as
a method of text communication: by the end of 2010, it was the most widely used data application with an
estimated 3.5 billion active users, or about 80% of all mobile phone subscribers.[10] More recently, SMS
has become increasingly challenged by newer proprietary instant messaging services;[11] RCS has been
designated as the potential open standard successor to SMS.[12]
Developmental history
SMS technology originated from radio telegraphy in radio memo pagers that used standardized phone
protocols. These were defined in 1986 as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)
series of standards.[13] The first SMS message was sent on 3 December 1992, when Neil Papworth, a test
engineer for Sema Group, sent "Merry Christmas" to the Orbitel 901 phone of colleague Richard
Jarvis.[14][15][16]
Initial concept
Adding text messaging functionality to mobile devices began in the early 1980s. The first action plan of
the CEPT Group GSM was approved in December 1982, requesting that "The services and facilities
offered in the public switched telephone networks and public data networks ... should be available in the
mobile system."[17] This plan included the exchange of text messages either directly between mobile
stations, or transmitted via message handling systems in use at that time.[18]
The SMS concept was developed in the Franco-German GSM
cooperation in 1984 by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard
Ghillebaert.[19] The GSM is optimized for telephony, since this
was identified as its main application. The key idea for SMS was
to use this telephone-optimized system, and to transport messages
on the signalling paths needed to control the telephone traffic
during periods when no signalling traffic existed. In this way,
unused resources in the system could be used to transport
messages at minimal cost. However, it was necessary to limit the
length of the messages to 128 bytes (later improved to 160 seven-
bit characters) so that the messages could fit into the existing
signalling formats. Based on his personal observations and on
analysis of the typical lengths of postcard and Telex messages,
Hillebrand argued that 160 characters was sufficient for most brief
communications.[20]
E.161, a common mobile keypad
SMS could be implemented in every mobile station by updating its alphabet layout
software. Hence, a large base of SMS-capable terminals and
networks existed when people began to use SMS.[21] A new
network element required was a specialized short message service centre, and enhancements were
required to the radio capacity and network transport infrastructure to accommodate growing SMS
traffic.[22]
Early development
The technical development of SMS was a multinational collaboration supporting the framework of
standards bodies. Through these organizations the technology was made freely available to the whole
world.[23]
The first proposal which initiated the development of SMS was made by a contribution of Germany and
France in the GSM group meeting in February 1985 in Oslo.[24] This proposal was further elaborated in
GSM subgroup WP1 Services (Chairman Martine Alvernhe, France Telecom) based on a contribution
from Germany. There were also initial discussions in the subgroup WP3 network aspects chaired by Jan
Audestad (Telenor). The result was approved by the main GSM group in a June 1985 document which
was distributed to industry.[25] The input documents on SMS had been prepared by Friedhelm Hillebrand
of Deutsche Telekom, with contributions from Bernard Ghillebaert of France Télécom. The definition
that Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert brought into GSM called for the provision of a
message transmission service of alphanumeric messages to mobile users "with acknowledgement
capabilities". The last three words transformed SMS into something much more useful than the electronic
paging services used at the time that some in GSM might have had in mind.[26]
SMS was considered in the main GSM group as a possible service for the new digital cellular system. In
GSM document "Services and Facilities to be provided in the GSM System,"[13] both mobile-originated
and mobile-terminated short messages appear on the table of GSM teleservices.[13]
The discussions on the GSM services were concluded in the recommendation GSM 02.03 "TeleServices
supported by a GSM PLMN."[27] Here a rudimentary description of the three services was given:
1. Short message mobile-terminated (SMS-MT)/ Point-to-Point: the ability of a network to
transmit a Short Message to a mobile phone. The message can be sent by phone or by a
software application.
2. Short message mobile-originated (SMS-MO)/ Point-to-Point: the ability of a network to
transmit a Short Message sent by a mobile phone. The message can be sent to a phone or
to a software application.
3. Short message cell broadcast.[27]
The material elaborated in GSM and its WP1 subgroup was handed over in Spring 1987 to a new GSM
body called IDEG (the Implementation of Data and Telematic Services Experts Group), which had its
kickoff in May 1987 under the chairmanship of Friedhelm Hillebrand (German Telecom). The technical
standard known today was largely created by IDEG (later WP4) as the two recommendations GSM 03.40
(the two point-to-point services merged) and GSM 03.41 (cell broadcast).
WP4 created a Drafting Group Message Handling (DGMH), which was responsible for the specification
of SMS. Finn Trosby of Telenor chaired the draft group through its first three years, in which the design
of SMS was established. DGMH had five to eight participants, and Finn Trosby mentions as major
contributors Kevin Holley, Eija Altonen, Didier Luizard and Alan Cox. The first action plan[28] mentions
for the first time the Technical Specification 03.40 "Technical Realisation of the Short Message Service".
Responsible editor was Finn Trosby. The first and very rudimentary draft of the technical specification
was completed in November 1987.[29] However, drafts useful for the manufacturers followed at a later
stage in the period. A comprehensive description of the work in this period is given in.[30]
The work on the draft specification continued in the following few years, where Kevin Holley of Cellnet
(now Telefónica O2 UK) played a leading role. Besides the completion of the main specification GSM
03.40, the detailed protocol specifications on the system interfaces also needed to be completed.
Early implementations
The first SMS message[14] was sent over the Vodafone GSM network in the United Kingdom on 3
December 1992, from Neil Papworth of Sema Group (now Mavenir Systems) using a personal computer
to Richard Jarvis of Vodafone using an Orbitel 901 handset. The text of the message was "Merry
Christmas."[31]
The first commercial deployment of a short message service center (SMSC) was by Aldiscon part of
Logica (now part of CGI) with Telia (now TeliaSonera) in Sweden in 1993,[32] followed by Fleet Call
(now Nextel)[33] in the US, Telenor in Norway[34] and BT Cellnet (now O2 UK)[35] later in 1993. All first
installations of SMS gateways were for network notifications sent to mobile phones, usually to inform of
voice mail messages.
The first commercially sold SMS service was offered to consumers, as a person-to-person text messaging
service by Radiolinja (now part of Elisa) in Finland in 1993. Most early GSM mobile phone handsets did
not support the ability to send SMS text messages, and Nokia was the only handset manufacturer whose
total GSM phone line in 1993 supported user-sending of SMS text messages. According to Matti
Makkonen, an engineer at Nokia at the time, the Nokia 2010, which was released in January 1994, was
the first mobile phone to support composing SMSes easily.[36]
It had become extremely popular in the Philippines by 2001 and the country was dubbed the "texting
capital of the world",[41][42] partly helped by large numbers of free text messages offered by the mobile
operators in monthly subscriptions.[43] SMS adoption was limited to parts of Europe and Asia during
these earlier years,[44] with U.S. adoption being low partly due to incompatible networks and cheap voice
calls relative to other countries.[43] The Economist wrote in 2003, as noted by an analyst:[45]
The short answer is that, in America, talk is cheap. Because local calls on land lines are usually
free, wireless operators have to offer big “bundles” of minutes—up to 5,000 minutes per month—
as part of their monthly pricing plans to persuade subscribers to use mobile phones instead. Texting
first took off in other parts of the world among cost-conscious teenagers who found that it was
cheaper to text than to call [..] Free local calls also make logging on to the internet, for hours at a
time, and using PC-to-PC “instant messaging” (IM) the preferred mode of electronic chat among
American teenagers.
This is also backed by the fact that as of 2003, American internet users were spending on average five
times more time online than Europeans,[46] and many poorer countries in Europe and other regions
around the world had significantly lower rates of internet access compared to the United States at the time
(see digital divide), hence making SMS more accessible.[47]
Contemporary usage
Monthly messages sent
Country per mobile subscriber
(2003)[48][43]
Philippines 195
South Korea 120
Ireland 79
Croatia 72
Indonesia 68 SMS messages sent monthly in the
19 U.S. from 2001 to 2008 (in billions)
France
United States 13
SMS has become a large commercial industry, earning $114.6 billion globally in 2010.[49] In the year
2002, 366 billion SMS text messages were sent globally,[50] a number that rose to 6.1 trillion (6.1 × 1012)
in 2010,[10] which is an average of 193,000 messages per second. The global average price for an SMS
message is US$0.11, while mobile networks charge each other interconnect fees of at least US$0.04 when
connecting between different phone networks. In 2015, the actual cost of sending an SMS in Australia
was found to be $0.00016 per SMS.[51] The global SMS messaging business was estimated to be worth
over US$240 billion in 2013, accounting for almost half of all revenue generated by mobile
messaging.[52]
The popularity of SMS also led to the spontaneous creation of the so-called 'SMS language' phenomenon,
where words are shortened in order to deal with the 160 character limit of SMS messages.[53] Usage of
SMS for mobile data services became increasingly prominent in the early 2000s due to its ubiquity,
reliability, and cold reception of the newer WAP standard.[54] (see Premium-rated services below). In the
early and mid 2000s, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) was developed as an improved version of
SMS that supports sending of pictures and video.[55]
SMS has been increasingly challenged by Internet Protocol-based messaging services with additional
features for modern mobile devices, such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, or WeChat.[56]
These services run independently from mobile network operators and typically don't provide cross-
platform messaging capabilities like SMS or email does.[12] For example, between 2010 and 2022, SMS
telecom revenue in India dropped 94 percent, while "revenue share per user from data usage...grew over
10 times.",[57] although in some regions such as North America SMS continues to be used by over 80
percent of the population as of 2023.[58] In order to create a modern successor to SMS that isn't run by a
single company and is fully interoperable between devices, industry figures have created the RCS
'Universal Profile' initiative.[12] It was supported by Apple when iOS 18 came out in 2024, which will
mean that virtually all new mobile phones (iOS and Android platforms) will have RCS texting
capabilities, though this may also depend on if the network operator supports it.[59]
Premium-rated services
SMS may be used to provide premium rate services to subscribers of a network.[60] Mobile-terminated
short messages can be used to deliver digital content such as news alerts, financial information, logos,
and ringtones. The first premium-rate media content delivered via the SMS system was the world's first
paid downloadable ringing tones, as commercially launched by Saunalahti (later Jippii Group, now part
of Elisa Group), in 1998. Initially, only Nokia branded phones could handle them. By 2002 the ringtone
business globally had exceeded $1 billion of service revenues, and nearly US$5 billion by 2008. Today,
they are also used to pay smaller payments online—for example, for file-sharing services, in mobile
application stores, or VIP section entrance. Outside the online world, one can buy a bus ticket or
beverages[61] from ATM, pay a parking ticket, order a store catalog or some goods (e.g., discount movie
DVDs), make a donation to charity, and much more.
Other uses
Additionally, an intermediary service can facilitate a text-to-voice conversion to be sent to landlines.[62]
In 2014, Caktus Group[63] developed the world's first SMS-based
voter registration system in Libya. As of February 2015 more than
1.5 million people have registered using that system, providing
Libyan voters with unprecedented access to the democratic
process.[64]
Flash SMS
A Flash SMS is a type of SMS that appears directly on the main screen without user interaction and is not
automatically stored in the inbox.[65] It can be useful in emergencies, such as a fire alarm or cases of
confidentiality, as in delivering one-time passwords.[66]
Silent SMS
In 2010, almost half a million silent SMS messages were sent by the German federal police, customs and
the federal domestic intelligence service Verfassungsschutz.[67][68] These silent messages, also known as
silent TMS, stealth SMS, stealth ping or Short Message Type 0,[69] are used to locate a person and thus to
create a complete movement profile. They do not show up on a display, nor trigger any acoustical signal
when received. Their primary purpose was to deliver special services of the network operator to any cell
phone.
SMS bombs
In March 2001, Dutch police in Amsterdam attempted to fight increasing cell phone theft by sending an
SMS every three minutes to a phone that has been reported stolen, with the message "This handset was
nicked, buying or selling is a crime. The police."[70][71]
Technical details
GSM
The Short Message Service—Point to Point (SMS-PP)—was originally defined in GSM recommendation
03.40, which is now maintained in 3GPP as TS 23.040.[72][73] GSM 03.41 (now 3GPP TS 23.041) defines
the Short Message Service—Cell Broadcast (SMS-CB), which allows messages (advertising, public
information, etc.) to be broadcast to all mobile users in a specified geographical area.[74][75] Cell
broadcast is the technology behind Wireless Emergency Alerts in the US which is used for public safety
messages and AMBER alerts,[76][77] and similar public safety messages in other countries. These
messages are similar to SMS messages.
Messages are sent to a short message service center (SMSC), which provides a "store and forward"
mechanism. It attempts to send messages to the SMSC's recipients. If a recipient is not reachable, the
SMSC queues the message for later retry.[78] Some SMSCs also provide a "forward and forget" option
where transmission is tried only once. Both mobile terminated (MT, for messages sent to a mobile
handset) and mobile originating (MO, for those sent from the mobile handset) operations are supported.
Message delivery is "best effort", so there are no guarantees that a message will actually be delivered to
its recipient, but delay or complete loss of a message is uncommon, typically affecting less than 5 percent
of messages.[79] Some providers allow users to request delivery reports, either via the SMS settings of
most modern phones, or by prefixing each message with *0#[80] or *N#. However, the exact meaning of
confirmations varies from reaching the network, to being queued for sending, to being sent, to receiving a
confirmation of receipt from the target device, and users are often not informed of the specific type of
success being reported.
SMS is a stateless communication protocol in which every SMS message is considered entirely
independent of other messages. Enterprise applications using SMS as a communication channel for
stateful dialogue (where an MO reply message is paired to a specific MT message) requires that session
management be maintained external to the protocol.
Message size
Transmission of short messages between the SMSC and the handset is done whenever using the Mobile
Application Part (MAP) of the SS7 protocol.[81] Messages are sent with the MAP MO- and MT-
ForwardSM operations, whose payload length is limited by the constraints of the signaling protocol to
precisely 140 bytes (140 bytes × 8 bits / byte = 1120 bits).
Short messages can be encoded using a variety of alphabets: the default GSM 7-bit alphabet, the 8-bit
data alphabet, and the 16-bit UCS-2 or UTF-16 alphabets.[82][83] Depending on which alphabet the
subscriber has configured in the handset, this leads to the maximum individual short message sizes of 160
7-bit characters, 140 8-bit characters, or 70 16-bit characters. GSM 7-bit alphabet support is mandatory
for GSM handsets and network elements,[83] but characters in languages such as Hindi, Arabic, Chinese,
Korean, Japanese, or Cyrillic alphabet languages (e.g., Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bulgarian, etc.) must
be encoded using the 16-bit UCS-2 character encoding (see Unicode). Routing data and other metadata is
additional to the payload size.
Larger content (concatenated SMS, multipart or segmented SMS, or "long SMS") can be sent using
multiple messages, in which case each message will start with a User Data Header (UDH) containing
segmentation information. Since UDH is part of the payload, the number of available characters per
segment is lower: 153 for 7-bit encoding, 134 for 8-bit encoding and 67 for 16-bit encoding. The
receiving handset is then responsible for reassembling the message and presenting it to the user as one
long message. While the standard theoretically permits up to 255 segments,[84] 10 segments is the
practical maximum with some carriers,[85] and long messages are often billed as equivalent to multiple
SMS messages. In some cases 127 segments are supported,[86] but software limitations in some SMS
applications do not permit this. Some providers have offered length-oriented pricing schemes for
messages, although that type of pricing structure is rapidly disappearing.
Gateway providers
SMS gateway providers facilitate SMS traffic between businesses and mobile subscribers, including SMS
for enterprises, content delivery, and entertainment services involving SMS, e.g. TV voting. Considering
SMS messaging performance and cost, as well as the level of messaging services, SMS gateway
providers can be classified as aggregators or SS7 providers.
The aggregator model is based on multiple agreements with mobile carriers to exchange two-way SMS
traffic into and out of the operator's SMSC, also known as "local termination model". Aggregators lack
direct access into the SS7 protocol, which is the protocol where the SMS messages are exchanged. SMS
messages are delivered to the operator's SMSC, but not the subscriber's handset; the SMSC takes care of
further handling of the message through the SS7 network.
Another type of SMS gateway provider is based on SS7 connectivity to route SMS messages, also known
as "international termination model". The advantage of this model is the ability to route data directly
through SS7, which gives the provider total control and visibility of the complete path during SMS
routing. This means SMS messages can be sent directly to and from recipients without having to go
through the SMSCs of other mobile operators. Therefore, it is possible to avoid delays and message
losses, offering full delivery guarantees of messages and optimized routing. This model is particularly
efficient when used in mission-critical messaging and SMS used in corporate communications. Moreover,
these SMS gateway providers are providing branded SMS services with masking but after misuse of these
gateways most countries' governments have taken serious steps to block these gateways.
Subscriber-originated messages are transported from a handset to a service center, and may be destined
for mobile users, subscribers on a fixed network, or Value-Added Service Providers (VASPs), also known
as application-terminated. Subscriber-terminated messages are transported from the service center to the
destination handset, and may originate from mobile users, from fixed network subscribers, or from other
sources such as VASPs.
On some carriers non-subscribers can send messages to a subscriber's phone using an Email-to-SMS
gateway. Additionally, many carriers, including AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA,[87] Sprint,[88] and
Verizon Wireless,[89] offer the ability to do this through their respective websites.[90]
For example, an AT&T subscriber whose phone number was 555-555-5555 would receive emails
addressed to [email protected] as text messages. Subscribers can easily reply to these SMS
messages, and the SMS reply is sent back to the original email address. Sending email to SMS is free for
the sender, but the recipient is subject to the standard delivery charges. Only the first 160 characters of an
email message can be delivered to a phone, and only 160 characters can be sent from a phone. However,
longer messages may be broken up into multiple texts, depending upon the telephone service
provider.[91][92]
Text-enabled fixed-line handsets are required to receive messages in text format. However, messages can
be delivered to non enabled phones using text-to-speech conversion.[93]
Short messages can send binary content such as ringtones or logos, as well as Over-the-air programming
(OTA) or configuration data. Such uses are a vendor-specific extension of the GSM specification and
there are multiple competing standards, although Nokia's Smart Messaging is common.
SMS is used for M2M (Machine to Machine) communication. For instance, there is an LED display
machine controlled by SMS, and some vehicle tracking companies use SMS for their data transport or
telemetry needs. SMS usage for these purposes is slowly being superseded by GPRS services owing to
their lower overall cost. GPRS is offered by smaller telco players as a route of sending SMS text to
reduce the cost of SMS texting internationally.[94]
From 3GPP Releases 99 and 4 onwards, CAMEL Phase 3 introduced the ability for the Intelligent
Network (IN) to control aspects of the Mobile Originated Short Message Service,[96] while CAMEL
Phase 4, as part of 3GPP Release 5 and onwards, provides the IN with the ability to control the Mobile
Terminated service.[96] CAMEL allows the gsmSCP to block the submission (MO) or delivery (MT) of
Short Messages, route messages to destinations other than that specified by the user, and perform real-
time billing for the use of the service. Prior to standardized CAMEL control of the Short Message
Service, IN control relied on switch vendor specific extensions to the Intelligent Network Application
Part (INAP) of SS7.
AT commands
Many mobile and satellite transceiver units support the sending and receiving of SMS using an extended
version of the Hayes command set. The extensions were standardised as part of the GSM Standards and
extended as part of the 3GPP standards process.[97]
The connection between the terminal equipment and the transceiver can be realized with a serial cable
(e.g., USB), a Bluetooth link, an infrared link, etc. Common AT commands include AT+CMGS (send
message), AT+CMSS (send message from storage), AT+CMGL (list messages) and AT+CMGR (read
message).[98]
However, not all modern devices support receiving of messages if the message storage (for instance the
device's internal memory) is not accessible using AT commands.[99]
Mobile-originated short messages may also be used in a premium-rated manner for services such as
televoting. In this case, the VASP providing the service obtains a short code from the telephone network
operator, and subscribers send texts to that number. The payouts to the carriers vary by carrier;
percentages paid are greatest on the lowest-priced premium SMS services. Most information providers
should expect to pay about 45 percent of the cost of the premium SMS up front to the carrier. The
submission of the text to the SMSC is identical to a standard MO Short Message submission, but once the
text is at the SMSC, the Service Center (SC) identifies the Short Code as a premium service. The SC will
then direct the content of the text message to the VASP, typically using an IP protocol such as SMPP or
EMI. Subscribers are charged a premium for the sending of such messages, with the revenue typically
shared between the network operator and the VASP. Short codes only work within one country, they are
not international.
An alternative to inbound SMS is based on long numbers (international number format, such as "+44 762
480 5000"), which can be used in place of short codes for SMS reception in several applications, such as
TV voting, product promotions and campaigns. Long numbers work internationally, allow businesses to
use their own numbers, rather than short codes, which are usually shared across many brands.
Additionally, long numbers are nonpremium inbound numbers.[60]
Threaded SMS
Threaded SMS is a visual styling orientation of SMS message history that arranges messages to and from
a contact in chronological order on a single screen. It was first invented by a developer working to
implement the SMS client for the BlackBerry, who was looking to make use of the blank screen left
below the message on a device with a larger screen capable of displaying far more than the usual 160
characters, and was inspired by threaded Reply conversations in email.[100]
Visually, this style of representation provides a back-and-forth chat-like history for each individual
contact.[101] Hierarchical-threading at the conversation-level (as typical in blogs and online messaging
boards) is not widely supported by SMS messaging clients. This limitation is due to the fact that there is
no session identifier or subject-line passed back and forth between sent and received messages in the
header data (as specified by SMS protocol) from which the client device can properly thread an incoming
message to a specific dialogue, or even to a specific message within a dialogue.
Most smart phone text-messaging-clients are able to create some contextual threading of "group
messages" which narrows the context of the thread around the common interests shared by group
members. On the other hand, advanced enterprise messaging applications which push messages from a
remote server often display a dynamically changing reply number (multiple numbers used by the same
sender), which is used along with the sender's phone number to create session-tracking capabilities
analogous to the functionality that cookies provide for web-browsing. As one pervasive example, this
technique is used to extend the functionality of many Instant Messenger (IM) applications such that they
are able to communicate over two-way dialogues with the much larger SMS user-base.[102] In cases
where multiple reply numbers are used by the enterprise server to maintain the dialogue, the visual
conversation threading on the client may be separated into multiple threads.
In the US, carriers have traditionally preferred that A2P messages be sent using a short code rather than a
standard long code.[104] In 2021, US carriers introduced a new service called A2P 10DLC, supporting the
used of 10-digit long codes for A2P messages.[105][106][107] In the United Kingdom A2P messages can be
sent with a dynamic 11 character sender ID; however, short codes are used for OPTOUT commands.
Satellite phone networks usually have web-based or email-based SMS portals where one can send free
SMS to phones on that particular network.
Unreliability
Unlike dedicated texting systems like the Simple Network Paging Protocol and Motorola's ReFLEX
protocol,[108] SMS message delivery is not guaranteed, and many implementations provide no
mechanism through which a sender can determine whether an SMS message has been delivered in a
timely manner.[109] SMS messages are generally treated as lower-priority traffic than voice, and various
studies have shown that around 1% to 5% of messages are lost entirely, even during normal operation
conditions, and others may not be delivered until long after their relevance has passed.[110] The use of
SMS as an emergency notification service in particular has been questioned.[109]
Vulnerabilities
The Global Service for Mobile communications (GSM), with the greatest worldwide number of users,
succumbs to several security vulnerabilities. In the GSM, only the airway traffic between the Mobile
Station (MS) and the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) is optionally encrypted with a weak and broken
stream cipher (A5/1 or A5/2). The authentication is unilateral and
also vulnerable. There are also many other security vulnerabilities
and shortcomings.[111] Such vulnerabilities are inherent to SMS as
one of the superior and well-tried services with a global
availability in the GSM networks. SMS messaging has some extra
security vulnerabilities due to its store-and-forward feature, and
the problem of fake SMS that can be conducted via the Internet.
When a user is roaming, SMS content passes through different
networks, perhaps including the Internet, and is exposed to various
vulnerabilities and attacks. Another concern arises when an
adversary gets access to a phone and reads the previous
unprotected messages.[112]
SMS spoofing
The GSM industry has identified a number of potential fraud attacks on mobile operators that can be
delivered via abuse of SMS messaging services. The most serious threat is SMS Spoofing, which occurs
when a fraudster manipulates address information in order to impersonate a user that has roamed onto a
foreign network and is submitting messages to the home network. Frequently, these messages are
addressed to destinations outside the home network—with the home SMSC essentially being "hijacked"
to send messages into other networks.
The only sure way of detecting and blocking spoofed messages is to screen incoming mobile-originated
messages to verify that the sender is a valid subscriber and that the message is coming from a valid and
correct location. This can be implemented by adding an intelligent routing function to the network that
can query originating subscriber details from the home location register (HLR) before the message is
submitted for delivery. This kind of intelligent routing function is beyond the capabilities of legacy
messaging infrastructure.[114]
Limitation
In an effort to limit telemarketers who had taken to bombarding users with hordes of unsolicited
messages, India introduced new regulations in September 2011, including a cap of 3,000 SMS messages
per subscriber per month, or an average of 100 per subscriber per day.[115] Due to representations
received from some of the service providers and consumers, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of
India) has raised this limit to 200 SMS messages per SIM per day in case of prepaid services, and up to
6,000 SMS messages per SIM per month in case of postpaid services with effect from November 1,
2011.[116] However, it was ruled unconstitutional by the Delhi high court, but there are some
limitations.[117]
See also
Process driven messaging service
Comparison of mobile phone standards
Instant messaging
Thumbing
Data Coding Scheme
Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS)
Short message service technical realisation (GSM)
SMS hubbing
SMS home routing
SMS language
BCODE
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data
Notes
a. Specifically 140 bytes, allowing 160 7-bit (i.e. entirely alpha-numeric) characters, 140 8-bit
characters, or 70 2-byte characters in languages such as Chinese when encoded using
UTF-16 character encoding.
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External links
3GPP (https://www.3gpp.org/) – the organization that maintains the SMS specification
ISO Standards (In Zip file format) (https://standards.iso.org/ittf/PubliclyAvailableStandards/c
036050_ISO_IEC_21989_2002(E).zip)
GSM 03.38 to Unicode (https://www.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/ETSI/GSM0338.TXT) –
how the GSM 7-bit default alphabet characters map into Unicode