Twelve of the nation’s top wireless carriers have joined forces to launch a common short codes, a service that will be commercially available next week. The program will allow TV stations, movie studios and virtually any other business to purchase a five-digit text messaging code and use it to interact with the vast majority of the country’s 151 million wireless subscribers.
“We’re incredibly excited about what will be a new market opportunity,” said Paul Palmieri, director of multimedia business development for Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest carrier.
The short-code launch caps about six months of activity, during which most of the nation’s carriers agreed to put aside their rivalries and cooperate on the service. By selling common short codes, the nation’s carriers hope to boost the use of messaging and thereby supplement declining voice revenues.
Common short codes can be used for a variety of services. For example, a beverage company like Pepsi could add short codes to its branding campaign, and users could send a text message to a Pepsi short code to register for prizes or receive information. Or a movie studio like Sony Pictures could promote its latest film by offering exclusive information and content through a short code. The number of such applications is not limited to the amount of different short-code number combinations; messages sent to short codes can be routed to different applications depending on the text included in the message.
Indeed, the Fox TV network next week will be one of the first to use the common short code service during its “Joe Millionaire” reality dating program. Viewers will be able to register their votes on the show by sending text messages to 36988, regardless of which carrier they subscribe to. Prior to the advent of common short codes, only subscribers of one carrier would have been able to participate.
The common short-code service will work through a Web site, www.USshortcodes.com. Any interested business can log on to the site and purchase a short code. The codes will cost $500 per month for a randomly generated code or $1,000 per month for a pre-selected code. Industry trade group Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association will work as the program’s administrator, while NeuStar Inc. will act as the code registrar. CTIA said the program is open to any interested wireless carrier.
“We think that there will be a big and quickly validated market for short codes,” said Verizon’s Palmieri. “The opportunity … isn’t just reserved for big companies.”
“We all realize it’s one of the key enablers for getting non peer-to-peer SMS,” said Cristy Swink, director of entertainment and mobile marketing for Cingular Wireless.
Although relatively simple, the short-code program includes several key aspects. Each carrier must agree to support each short code, and any carrier can decline to support a code for any reason. For example, if Fox were to offer its “Joe Millionaire” short code voting service at the same time a rival station planned a similar event, carriers could opt out if they feared the volume of messages would overwhelm their servers. Carriers could also opt out of a service due to its content, such as a short code for adult entertainment.
The issue becomes even more complicated when premium messaging is introduced. If Fox wished to charge users 50 cents per “Joe Millionaire” vote and share in the resulting revenues, the station would have to negotiate an agreement with each carrier-and each carrier would have to have the technology to support such a billing feature. Fox could also elect to offer free voting services by reimbursing the carriers, but that too would depend on individual carrier support.
Interestingly, various wireless players were negotiating such services prior to the common short-code program. For example, mobile marketing company M-Qube recently announced a TV voting deal with Universal Domestic Television, allowing “The 5th Wheel” viewers to register for various prizes. The service worked through the short code WHEEL, and M-Qube signed up Verizon, AT&T Wireless, Nextel Communications, T-Mobile USA Inc. and U.S. Cellular to participate. The new common short-code service will streamline and simplify such services.
In creating the short-code program, the nation’s carriers have past experience from which to draw. Last year, carriers agreed to open their text messaging services to rivals, allowing subscribers of one carrier to send messages to customers of another carrier. Prior to the agreements, subscribers could only send messages to customers of the same carrier.
And it seems such interoperability is key to the growth of the messaging industry. According to numbers from CTIA, U.S. subscribers composed 1.22 billion text messages in June. In June 2002, only a few hundred thousand messages were sent.
