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Derek Handley, O2 Ireland's product director, told ElectricNews.Net that the service will make it easier for businesses to publish information via SMS and also enable them to receive a share in the revenues that their content generates. It is thought that the service will be introduced later this year.
According to Handley, at the moment, content companies have to overcome barriers such as having to use a telecoms protocol if they want their information to be available on the O2 network. Such barriers, added Handley, may have discouraged some businesses from getting involved in the area as they might not have had the necessary technical skills or infrastructure.
Under the new service, customers will simply access a form on the Web to connect with O2, said Handley. This, he predicted, will widen the SMS content market as it will encourage even small businesses to enter the space.
In addition, the service will see a change in O2's traditional charging model in this area. Up until now, O2, which is the new name for Digifone, has generally paid a flat fee to providers for their content. Under the new service, O2 will be moving to a revenue sharing model that will see companies paid by the number of users that view or interact with their content.
"At the moment, a content business gets paid a certain amount of money regardless of whether they are getting 20,000 views one month or 100,000 views the next. As such, there has been no incentive for them to introduce compelling content," commented Handley.
"However, we now have the technology that will allow O2 to retrieve information on which of our customers are receiving specific SMS messages and we can calculate what is owed to those content businesses from that," he added. "If your content is interesting enough, regardless of what kind of business you are, then you should be able to reap the rewards."
According to O2, it will collect the revenue from its customers and distribute it to the relevant content companies. Handley said that content businesses will receive the "lion's share" of this revenue, although he wasn't able to comment on an exact percentage figure.
Handley believes that the service will prove a boom to the Irish SMS market as it will open up the sector. "It will re-define the area as it makes it a lot easier and worthwhile for companies, and not just large content publishers, to get involved in sending batch SMS messages. For instance, FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies could publish short-code phone numbers on their products that allow their customers to receive information via SMS on promotions. It will also mean that any company that is Web-enabled will be capable of publishing content over SMS."
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