Why Verizon needs to reconsider its fee hike on SMS, and why the MEF is ready to engage.
Last Friday, Verizon Wireless announced a $.03 increase fee for all mobile terminated text messages delivered across its network. Many Mobile Entertainment Forum members have expressed concern over this announcement.
Some viewed this move by Verizion as potentially damaging to their businesses as well as the premium and standard rate messaging business ecosystem as a whole. On Monday, Verizon clarified its position as a proposal, and cited the reasoning to offset increasingly higher costs of delivery of text messages they incur each month.
In response, MEF Americas is looking open a dialogue on behalf of its members. While acknowledging the right of Verizon to charge whatever sum is reasonable for SMS, we hope to foster an outcome acceptable to all in the value chain. We polled our US members and found that half believe the proposed fee increase would cause them to limit or curtail their current text related businesses, while 57 per cent feel consumer choice would be significantly impacted.
This could include free-to-consumer, ad supported content; premium content (games, video, ring tones and wall paper; mobile widgets), alerts, text based services such as horoscopes; mobile marketing campaigns; SMS voting for TV reality shows; and information services.
This is why we’re urging Verizon to reconsider the timing, scale and terms of its proposed fee increase. The industry is ready to engage with the carrier to help find a solution that meets its objectives, without suddenly negatively impacting the businesses of so many companies in the mobile entertainment industry at this delicate moment.
This is an example of the role MEF plays in the industry as indicated by its mission statement – to accelerate the growth of the industry by being its voice and a champion of a positive consumer experience to industry, government, academia and media.
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