Introduction of the Short Message Service

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3 min readFeb 27, 2023

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Small Message Service (SMS) is often a text messaging component of nearly all telephone, World Wide Web, and cell phone telephony systems. Standardized communication protocols that allow fixed line/landline or mobile phone devices to switch short text messages. As a result, SMS is the most widely used data application, using an estimated 3. 5 tera- active users, or about 80% of all mobile phone members, at the end of 2010. Find out about Free SMS verification code bypass service, click here

Initial Progress

The SMS concept started in the Franco-German GSM synergy in 1984 by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert. The GSM is hard-wired for telephony since it has been identified as its main program. The key idea for TEXT MESSAGE was to use this telephone-optimized method and to transport messages around the signaling paths needed to handle the telephone traffic during cycles when no signaling-targeted traffic existed.

In this way, unused assets in the system could be accustomed to transporting messages at a nominal cost. However, it was required to limit the length of the information to 128 bytes (later improved to 160 seven-bit characters) so that the messages could fit into the existing signaling platforms. Based on his observations and an analysis of the typical plans of postcards and Telex messages, Hillebrand argued that 160 characters were enough to briefly, concisely, and pithily express most messages.

Early Development

The first offer which initiated the development of TEXT MESSAGE was made by a contribution regarding Germany and France to the GSM group meeting in February 1985 in Oslo. This proposal was more elaborated in GSM subgroup WP1 Services (Chairman Martine Alvernhe, France Telecom) according to a contribution from Australia. There were also initial discussion posts in the subgroup WP3 community aspects chaired by Feb Audestad (Telenor). The main GSM party has approved the result in a June ’85 file distributed to the market.

The input documents in SMS had been prepared by Friedhelm Hillebrand (Deutsche Telekom) together with contributions from Bernard Ghillebaert (France Télécom). The definition that Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert brought into GSM needed a communication transmission service of alphanumeric messages to mobile consumers “with acknowledgment capabilities.” The very last three words transformed TEXT MESSAGE into something much more beneficial than the prevailing messaging paging that some in GSM might have had in mind.

Early implementations

The first SMS message was sent over the Vodafone GSM network in the United Kingdom on December 1992 from Neil Papworth of Sema Party (now Mavenir Systems) using a personal computer to Richard Jarvis of Vodafone using an Orbitel 901 handset. The text in the message was “Merry Christmas time.

The first commercial deployment of your short message service center (SMSC) was by Aldiscon, part of Logica (now a part of Acision), with Telia (now TeliaSonera) in Sweden in 1993, followed by Fleet Phone (now Nextel) in the US, Telenor in Norway[citation needed] and BT Cellnet (now O2 UK)[citation needed] later inside 1993. All first installations of SMS Gateways have been for network notifications provided for mobile phones, usually to inform regarding voice mail messages.

The 1st commercially sold SMS service was offered to consumers as a person-to-person text messaging service simply by Radiolinja (now part of Elisa) in Finland in 93. Most early GSM cellphone handsets did not support sending SMS text messages. Nokia was the only smartphone manufacturer whose entire GSM phone line in 93 supported user-sending of COST-FREE text messages. According to Matti Makkonen, the inventor of COST-FREE text messages, Nokia 2010, released in January 1994, is the first mobile phone to easily support developing SMSes.

SMS Currently

In 2010, 6. 1 trillion (6. 1 × 1012) SMS text messages were provided. This translates into an average of 193 000 SMS per second. SMS has become a vast professional industry, earning $114. a few billion globally in 2010. The worldwide average price for a COST-FREE message is US$0. 13, while mobile networks impose each other interconnect fee connected with at least US$0. 04 if connecting between different cellphone networks.

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