SMS Termination Explained
This is a quick start blog post on SMS termination, explained in a few paragraphs.
SMS termination refers to the delivery of an SMS (Short Message Service) message either from one mobile user to another (P2P) or from an application to a mobile phone also known as A2P. It signifies that the message was delivered to a mobile phone user.
The main protocol used by SMS termination providers, aggregators and mobile network operators is called SMPP Protocol which stands for Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP).
The widely used SMPP protocol version are V.3.4 and V.5.0, you can learn more about the different SMPP protocol version specifications and capabilities here.
SMS Termination Example
It is very common now a days to receive an SMS with a pin code when registration on a mobile app like Whatsapp or Facebook, this is quick example of SMS Termination.
A company like Facebook uses an API (Application Programming Interface) within its app that sends the phone number to the backend servers that send the message to the telecom network operator you’re with via SMPP protocol.
HTTPS —> (Phone = +12349999999) —> SMPP —-> Mobile Operator.
in SMPP protocol when an operator delivered the message it would send a delivery report back to the SMPP server, which looks like this:
id:{message_id} sub:{message_sub} dlvrd:{message_dlvrd} submit date:{message_submit_date} done date:{message_done_date} stat:{message_stat} err:{message_err}
This is how Facebook would know if the message was successfully delivered or not.
SMS Aggregation
SMS aggregation refers to the buying SMS route from MNO (Mobile Network Operator) and selling it to a customer (like Facebook) at higher cost.
In order to start SMS termination aggregation, you must have an SMS Gateway.
SMS Gateways
There is a few well know SMPP capable SMS Gateways, I will point you to a few open-source SMS gateway that are available and used by many in the market today:
- Restcomm SMSC
- Jasmin SMSC
- Kannel
- Cloud Hopper (By Twitter)
Once you have setup an SMPP capable SMS gateway buying and selling SMS routes on the SMS Exchange is pretty straight forward.
SMS Exchange Market Places
- TCXC SMS Exchange : Membership entails an annual subscription fee.
- NeuTrafiX (NTX) SMS Exchange: There are no membership fees involved in this model, and it operates on a pay-as-you-go basis.