SMS short codes - a tale of telco chaos

So you want to vote for a Pop Idol on your mobile phone - why can't the mobile industry just give you a single, short number to call, whatever network you use?

SMS voting, ring-tone downloading and other SMS services require each network set up special numbers. End users send messages to these numbers to request a service, and the cost of the service is added to their bills.

Currently, a company that wishes to offer this kind of SMS service has to negotiate with each of the UK's four mobile networks separately for a number, which are unlikely to be the same.

Asking users to send messages to three or four different numbers inevitably leads to confusion, with many messages getting lost as BT Cellnet customers send text messages to the number Vodafone users were meant to use, or vice versa.

Patrick Naughton, managing director of Telecom One, which offers SMS services to third parties, said: "In Norway, they had a similar problem, and when they sorted it out the viability and volumes of SMS-based services improved dramatically."

SMS-based services are becoming increasingly popular as a marketing tool, and a business in their own right. They are one of the few mobile services where a third-party digital content provider can charge for mobile data services.

As such, they are seen as an essential testing ground for the high-value data services that will be essential if 3G networks are ever to generate enough revenue to repay the massive license fees that mobile operators have paid for them.

Naughton told silicon.com that he is currently able to get the same four- or five-digit codes for Vodafone and BT Cellnet's networks, with 80 numbers connected thus far, though billing for BT Cellnet Pay-as-you-go customers is still being implemented.

He said: "We are close to getting it working on One2One but it looks like we'll have to use 11-digit codes, which won't be the same as the ones we use on BT Cellnet and Vodafone."

Of the four UK mobile networks only Orange returned our calls for comment. The company said in a statement that: "Orange is working with other UK operators to develop a range of short codes that can be used for text messaging services in liaison with the Mobile Data Association (MDA)."

"This will enable four- or five-digit telephone numbers to be used across different networks for a common service. Orange sees this as a great opportunity for a wide range of new and exciting services for customers and for developing usage of wirefree devices."

However, as silicon.com reported last week, Orange's plans to deploy reverse-billed SMS services for third party content providers have been delayed by technical glitches.

"The situation with Orange is still unclear," Naughton said.

In some European countries such as Finland, the regulator has imposed a system whereby all operators have to enable short codes starting with specific digits for each different purpose - so to download a ringtone, the code would start with, say, 56 - so the user knows what it's for and what it's likely to cost.

A similar situation exists in Britain with telephone numbers - where 0800 is a freephone number, and an 0900 number would be a premium line costing 60p or more per minute.

There's little chance of an SMS version of this in the UK, though.

An Oftel spokeswoman said: "We don't feel any regulatory intervention is necessary or desirable, but we would welcome any industry move to harmonise short codes."