Bulk messaging is the dissemination of large numbers of SMS messages for delivery to mobile phone terminals. It is used by media companies, enterprises, banks (for marketing and fraud control) and consumer brands for a variety of purposes including entertainment, enterprise and mobile marketing.
Bulk messaging is commonly used for alerts, reminders, marketing but also for information and communication between both staff and customers.
Most bulk messaging services use the following standard application programming interfaces (APIs) which allow programmers to add SMS functionality to any program:
- FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
- HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
- SMPP (Short Message Peer-to-Peer)
Several mobile telephone network operators have true fixed-wire SMS services. These are based on extensions to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) SMS standards and allow messaging between any mix of fixed and mobile equipment. These use frequency-shift keying to transfer the message between the terminal and the Short Message Service Center (SMSC). Terminals are usually based on Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT), but wired handsets and wired text-only (no voice) devices exist. Messages are received by the terminal recognising that the Caller ID is that of the SMSC and going off-hook silently to receive the message.
