There are over 900 mobile network operators in the world. Three services help them achieve this: internet data (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G), text messages (SMS), and voice. Voice has traditionally been the focus, and internet data is currently in the limelight.
SMS, however, is often distrusted and overlooked – we believe, unfairly so.
Something which unites most of these businesses across the world is their common belief that they aren’t accumulating as much revenue as they could and should. We believe that the leakage of revenues experienced by most mobile operators and the current state of the SMS traffic are indeed connected, but not in the way many operators think.
A widespread misconception about the total statistics for SMS traffic is due to confusing two different types of SMS: P2P (peer-to-peer) and A2P (application-to-person).
The general sentiment among operators is that total SMS traffic is in decline encroached upon by messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger, and others. This is true of P2P traffic: more and more individuals are using one or another messaging app to communicate, which indeed leads to a decrease in SMS text messaging between individuals.
If it were only about P2P, this would explain away the common concern. However, there is another huge part of the total SMS traffic, one which is by no means in decline: A2P. Businesses, including the same messengers which are stealing away P2P traffic (Facebook, Google, and other services) are actually adding to A2P traffic.
The good news is: this traffic is growing, consistently and reliably. And, according to research of SMS provider/operator it is projected to keep growing in the nearest future: the 1.67 trillion A2P messages sent in 2017 will rise to 2.8 trillion by 2022. The global A2P messaging market was worth $12 billion in 2017 and will increase to $26.6 billion in 2022. Over the 2017-2022 forecast period, the market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.5%. Driven by the A2P traffic, overall SMS traffic is still growing.
