Every mobile service operator seeks exponential revenue from its offerings and SMS service has been a great hope for them to serve the same. Thus, they have always been promoting their consumers to send text to each other as a means of communication. This worked in favor for a long time but now, with the rise of smartphones, the demand for traditional mobile messaging solutions such as Person-to-Person (P2P) SMS are declining steadily owing to the fact that the customers are switching to OTT platforms, such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger. The reason behind the same remains the overall affordability and ease offered by OTT billings.
Taking all this in sight, the telecom operators are beginning to shift their focus to A2P SMS.
What is A2P messaging?
A2P messaging implies application-to-person messaging. An A2P SMS is an SMS message which is sent from an application- typically a web-based one-to a mobile subscriber. The common uses of A2P bulk SMSs include notifications, alerts and mobile contextual marketing messages such as flight alerts, banking updates or new offers from merchants.
Difference between A2P and P2P SMS
In general terms, a P2P message is one which is exchanged between two mobile subscribers. The uses of P2P messaging platforms include SMS on virtual contact numbers such as Google Voice, anonymous dating applications, group chat applications etc.
The A2P text messages can also be sent in another direction (from a mobile subscriber to a web-based application). This is known as P2A SMS (person-to-application messaging).
Making money with A2P messaging
Every mobile service operator realizes that A2P SMSs can be a huge moneymaker for them. But at the same time they also know that monetizing A2P messaging without bringing transparency and convenience can be backbreaking-especially in case the speed-to-market is low.
The effective A2P SMS partnership models from the best service providers are capable of getting you up with the speed, quality and transparency needed to monetize A2P messaging.
A2P messaging has already made its presence felt. For example, flight booking confirmations from the travel portal the customer makes reservations on, real-time route updates from a taxi service, password resets and service activations from a bank and feedback and quality ratings for the customer’s car’s last service check are all examples of A2P messaging. Customer experience management (CXM) services are the largest revenue contributing application segment of the A2P SMS market. The most significant uptake of A2P messaging services is expected to come from major enterprise verticals such as banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), entertainment, tourism, retail, marketing, healthcare and media. Globally, the uptake of A2P SMS is expected to increase to 2.19 trillion by 2018 and A2P revenues will grow to $60 billion in the same timeframe.
