1. SHORT CODE SERVICE
Sourcing committee 06 April 2012 | Page ‹#›

2. Vale added service (VAS)
Vale added service (VAS) is a term used in telecommunications to describe non-core features. They are generally marketed as premium features and add-ons to basic core functions. Although they can often operate on a stand-alone basis, they are used by telecommunications companies in order to stimulate demand for core services.
All VAS share the same characteristics:
They add value to the core services
They are not basic services
They stand alone in terms of their profitability
They can stimulate increased demand for standard service(s)
Sometimes, they stand alone operationally
They are add-ons to the basic service(s)
They may provide administrative and/or operational synergy among or between other services
They are not merely used for diversification purposes
Every VAS will demonstrate one or more of the above characteristics. Furthermore, a value-added service will never stand in stark contrast to any of the above characteristics.
VAS applications also have a certain time dimension associated with them.

3. Why are VAS Important to Carriers?
In the competitive markets, these services have a significant importance.
For instance, in terms of revenue, these services provide a significant amount of money to telecom companies by enabling them to upturn average revenue per user.
On the other hand, they enable operators to establish customers’ loyalty. Customers are attracted to companies that offer more VASs. These services also make customers happy. And, customers are more likely to continue using services of the company that makes them happy. Thus, these services play a significant role in ensuring customer satisfaction and retention.
Because the VAS devices are installed behind the ISP platform, they should follow the network behavior of the ISP platform. Therefore, VAS devices must meet the following two requirements:
• VAS devices must be equipped with two separate interfaces, one for the subscriber side and one for the network side. Traffic toward the subscribers should be sent from the subscriber interface and for the Internet from the network interface.
• VAS devices must be transparent in Layer 2. The VAS servers must act like Layer 2 switches in that they are not allowed to change traffic headers or to generate new traffic.

4. (3) Complementary Services to VAS.
Value-Added Services (VAS) vs Core Services and Bearer Services 
Core Services are those services that represent one of more of the following:
(1) Basic Services,
(2) Support Services,
(3) Complementary Services to VAS. 
Bearer services are defined as those services that merely act as the carriage for something else.  Traditional voice is just circuit-switched for audio exchange between people (or person and machine in the case of IVR) and data can carry almost anything.   

5. In telecommunication modern VAS services include:
SHORT MESSAGING SERVICE
SMS (Short Messaging Services) - peer to peer and Application to peer
MMS: sending image, videos, wallpapers etc…
Bulk SMS (sending greetings, SMS to multiple users on festivals, occasions, promote sells etc…)
Voic 1 6
VIRTUAL INTERNET SERVICE
provision of internet service, web hosting service, and other similar services to customers by leasing internet bandwidth or internet network equipment of ethio telecom 2
PAYMENT TRANSACTION SERVICES
Share airtime
Mobile recharge
Credit notification
Mobile Money transfer, m-banking, m-commerce 5 3
CALL CENTER SERVICES
Information provisioning service through a telephone call or internet
ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATION SERVICES
Video streaming –watch on demand movies, TV serials, live sport matches
USSD - interactive menu based services
CRBT (Caller Ring Back Tone)
Mobile advertisements - post banners, promotions, sales discounts etc…
Polls and contests – voting for favorite contestants by sending SMS to the given short codes
Infotainment- Sports, news, current affairs, weather reports etc… 4
LOCATION BASED SERVICES
Vehicle Tracking, Fleet Management services
Hotels, Restaurants, Malls, etc. location finding services

6. Service Delivery Platform (SDP)
For providing Value Added Services - Service Delivery Platform (VAS-SDP) has been designed to help operator manage all Network Nodes and IT systems centrally and register and expose them as a service.
SDP is more than a single product or component within the network. It is a suite of interconnected products that enable flexible service creation, modification and subscriber personalization.
SDPs are commonly considered for the telco type environments as a core system which interconnects the customer's access and network infrastructure with the OSS systems and BSS systems. 
Within the telecommunications industry, companies use service delivery platforms for services like messaging services, VoIP services and other kinds of telecommunication services.
Yet another definition of a service delivery platform is that SDPs can be designed for the management and sale of services between various companies that may supply different elements of a service.

7. Cont.….

8. SMS Short codes
SMS Short codes are special telephone numbers, significantly shorter and more memorable than full telephone numbers eg. 994 or 8100  that are used to facilitated communication on mobile phones.
Short Codes are numbers shorter than full numbers which can be used to address mobile :-
SMS
USSD
APP
WEB and
MMS messages and Voice Services from mobile phones or fixed lines.
N.B Currently Ethio telecom will deliver SMS, USSD and voice short code services only.

9. Cont.….
Short codes can be configured in a number of ways depending on ISP desired interaction.
Zero rate: your consumer  / client is not billed for any interactions over the short code and you meet the cost of the messaging.
Normal rate: your consumer is charged at the rate of their subscribed tariff, with no additional cost to you.
Premium rate: your consumer is billed at an agreed and set rate higher than their normal tariff.
Billing can be done on:-
MO – Mobile origination, where if your consumer does not have the required airtime balance they will not access the service ( excellent for upfront content purchases, opinion polls and lotteries ).
MT – Mobile Termination, where consumers can access the service with fulfilment and billing happening as the content or response is delivered ( excellent for subscription based services ).

10. Types of Short Code Service & Requirements
Ethio telecom will deliver short code services on three modalities i.e. Mobile Originated, Mobile Terminated and subscription based.
A. Mobile Originated (MO)
The partner shall have two short codes. The partner who gives MO service can use one short code for content delivery and additional one for auto replay or bulk SMS.
Any message that will be sent from a partner as autoreply will be charged as per ethio charging tariff per SMS.
When customer sends any character including space or empty, customer will be charged the amount configured for the short code. If the customer sends any un-subscription key word, the customer will be charged; however, the customer will get the already on pipe service while opting out.
When a customer sends un-subscription key words to MO service, the customer will be charged the amount configured but will not get any further advertising (BSMS) from the partner, i.e. the customer will be considered as opted out.

11. Overview: Two Way Messaging
Mobile Originated (MO) or Inbound
Respond with "ROCK" for
Free party tix MT
Black Box of
Your application &
gateway &
other
ROCK MO

12. B. Mobile Terminated (MT)
The partner has to avail two short codes for the service: one short code for registration, cancellation and auto replay, second short code for sending content to customers-for content push.
For each BSMS, the message must show the price, frequency, and way of un-subscribing from the service.
Customer shall re-confirm the registration of MT service before he/she gets content.
Enrolling a user in multiple short code programs based on a single opt-in is prohibited, even when all programs operate on the same short code.
When a customer sends wrong key word to a registration short code, the partner shall send back a message which explains the message is wrong and need to be corrected. The partner shall send a message as “dear customer you have sent a wrong key word, please send the corrected one…”
The partner cannot send a message greater than 160 characters for Latin fonts and 70 characters for Geez fonts (140 bites).

13. Overview: One Way Messaging
Mobile Terminated (MT) or Outbound
Party at A1A Beach
front Ave
Mobile Terminated (MT)
Black Box of
Your application &
gateway &
other

14. C. Subscription fee service
The partner has to have two short codes. One for registration, cancellation and replay. Second for content delivery.
Customers will not pay any amount when they get content from the partner, as they have already paid for subscription.
Customers will pay when they subscribe to the service. It could be for daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.
Customer has the right to opt out at any time by both the subscription code and content delivery code.
Customers will be reminded that they have subscribed for a service on subscription bases in an interval of every month before getting charged.
Partners shall send their content delivery only with the limit of the time windows all days including holiday from 8AM to 8PM. In case of special services that needs different time window, the partner needs to clearly mention the proposed time and need double confirmation for the timing.

15. SMS can be Called/Calling Party Transformation Pattern Behavior
The calling party (in some contexts called the "A-Number") is a person who (or device that) initiates a telephone call.
The called party (in some contexts called the "B-Number") is The person who, or device that, receives a telephone call is the called party.
In some situations, the called party may number more than one: such an instance is known as a conference call. Strictly, in some systems, only one called party is contacted at each event, as to initiate a conference call the calling party contacts the first called party, then this person contacts the second called party, but audio is transferred to both called parties.
In a collect call (i.e. reverse charge), the called party pays the fee for the call, when it is usually the calling party that does so. The called party also pays if the number dialed is a toll-free telephone number.

16. SHORT MESSAGING SERVICE
I. SMS (Short Messaging Services) - peer to peer and Application to peer.
II. MMS: sending image, videos, wallpapers etc…
III. Bulk SMS (sending greetings, SMS to multiple users on festivals, occasions, promote sells etc…) Voice mail.
Bulk SMS:-
Bulk SMS Messaging is the dissemination of large numbers of SMS messages for delivery to consumer’s mobile phones. With varied uses for individuals, small business and large enterprises, we provide a trusted scalable platform that you can use to send from 1 to +1 million messages.
Our services are used by media companies, enterprises, banks (for reporting and fraud control), consumer brands for a variety of purposes including entertainment, promotions and mobile marketing, churches, schools and even individuals – for personal messaging. Bulk messaging is commonly used for alerts, reminders, marketing but also for information and communication between both staff and customers. Bulk messaging lets you deliver SMS messages to mobile handsets almost anywhere in the world.

17. Short code Services Preconditions
VAS license
Business license, Main registration, TIN number, House rent, etc
Agreement between the service provider and ethio telecom
VPN connectivity (for Bulk SMS and USSD) Minimum 512 Kbps
Fixed line or E1 (for voice)
Selection of short code
Definition of premium and non premium
Price setting
Application software and Database
Proposal that shows list of service, tariff, the sample content and how it works.
License from National lottery for lottery based services (if applicable)
License from Broadcasting Agency for news based services (if applicable)
Content Provider: A person or a business that provides content. Content means any sound, text, picture, moving picture or other.

18. SMS Service deployment procedure

19. Short Message Service (SMS) communications protocols
Short Message Service (SMS) uses standardized communications protocols to allow fixed line or mobile phone devices to exchange short text messages.
In ET we have two SMS servers,
Arada OCS IP address /24
Bole OCS SMS ip address /24
So the SMS service companies are connected to the two SMS servers through our backbone network and using these SMS servers, they send message to their customers.
The SMS servers are connected to the IP network through voice ERs, in Bole and Arada.
They are connected to the GSM network.

20. Cont.….
The SMS directly to the Short Message Switching Centre (SMSC) using the Short Message Peer to Peer (SMPP) communication protocol over IP network.
This document provides a reference for all features available to you via the SMPP interface for sending SMS. SMPP is considered the industry standard for sending SMS to Network providers and is our native protocol.
The Short Message Peer-to-Peer (SMPP) is a protocol used by the telecommunications industry for exchanging SMS messages between Short Message Service Centers (SMSC) and/or External Short Messaging Entities (ESME).
The protocol is a level-7 TCP/IP protocol, which allows fast delivery of SMS messages.
The most commonly used versions of SMPP are v3.3, the most widely supported standard 3.4, which adds transceiver support (single connections that can send and receive messages).
Data exchange may be synchronous, where each peer must wait for a response for each PDU being sent, and asynchronous, where multiple requests can be issued in one go and acknowledged in a skew order by the other peer.

21. SMPP Features
 SMPP is a direct connection to carriers and provides instant delivery
 High throughput ( up to 200 sms/second )
 Usage of Short Code
 SMPP offers status delivery reports
 24/7 support via our support system
The bind request is issued by the SMPP client to the Server. To be authenticated, the SMPP parameters system_id and password must be specified. These values are provided by SMS Central.
Parameter
Description
SMS IP
smpp.smsglobal.com
PORT
1775
SYSTEM ID
[ Username ]
PASSWORD
[ Password ]

22. SMPP Versions
The SMPP standard has evolved during the time. The most commonly used versions of SMPP are:
SMPP 3.3 the oldest used version (despite of its limitations, it is still widely used); supports GSM only. All messages sent, generates immediate response.
SMPP 3.4 adds Tag-Length-Value (TLV) parameters, support of non-GSM SMS technologies and the transceiver  support (single connections that can send and receive messages). The exchange of SMPP request and response PDUs between an ESME Transmitter and SMSC may occur synchronously or asynchronously.
SMPP 5.0 is the latest version of SMPP; adds support for cell broadcasting

23. Cont.….
SMPP Release v3.4 supports Digital Cellular Network technologies including:
GSM
IS-95 (CDMA)
Using the SMPP protocol, an SMS application system called the 'External Short Message Entity' (ESME) may initiate an application layer connection with an SMSC over a TCP/IP or X.25 network connection and may then send short messages and receive short messages to and from the SMSC respectively. The ESME may also query, cancel or replace short messages using SMPP.
SMPP supports a full featured set of two-way messaging functions such as:
Transmit messages from an ESME to single or multiple destinations via the SMSC
An ESME may receive messages via the SMSC from other SME's (e.g. mobile stations).
Query the status of a short message stored on the SMSC
Cancel or replace a short message stored on the SMSC
Send a registered short message (for which a 'delivery receipt' will be returned by the SMSC to the message originator)
Schedule the message delivery date and time
Select the message mode, i.e. datagram or store and forward

24. USSD Codes Service
The simplest way to describe USSD, which stands for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data is an interactive star menu engagement through an easy to remember code.
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is a protocol used by GSM cellphones to communicate with their service provider’s computers.
USSD allows for high-speed and interactive communications between the user and an application on a GSM network. Basically, USSD enables you to request services by entering a specific short sequence of characters on the handset starting with a star sign / asterisk * and ending with a hash #, such as *144#
The beauty of USSD is that it is accessible from the simplest of feature phones to the top end smart phones. What makes it different from SMS is that SMS is a store and forward service, whereas USSD is a session-based service. When a user accesses a USSD service, a session is established and the connection stays open until the user, application, or time-out closes it.
USSD business models can get tricky due to the cost of deployment and mobile operator internal business models. Billing by the operator is done on either Pre Paid or Post Paid with no revenue share.

25. Cont.….
USSD can be used for WAP browsing, prepaid callback service, mobile money services, location-based content services, menu-based information services, or even as part of configuring the phone on the network.
On Pre-Paid, your customer is charged a flat fee per interaction, while on Post-Paid you will be billed per session. These costs vary per operator. We apply a small business margin on this and the end figure is what you pay. You will notice that banks and utility companies are the main users of USSD as they can levy a fee to their customers account at the end of the month to recoup charges.
If you have a service for which you can transfer this cost and even apply an additional margin, or can position the cost into your consumer acquisition funnel, USSD offers numerous benefits over SMS with the first being that you can do a lot more in one session that you can on one sms.
Due to high CapEX and OpEX on dedicated USSD codes, you are welcome to leverage our shared USSD code which is Post-Paid. We will be happy to transfer you to a dedicated code should your growing business require it.
Generally the USSD functionality is implemented in the following modes:
Pull Mode, will handle Mobile Initiated USSD Requests.
Push Mode, will handle Network Initiated USSD Requests.

26. USSD Codes Service communication Protocol
A WAP browser is a web browser for USSD mobile devices such as mobile phones that uses the protocol. Introduced with much hype in 1999, WAP achieved some popularity in the early 2000s, but by the 2010s it had been largely superseded by more modern standards. Most modern handset internet browsers now fully support HTML, so do not need to use WAP markup for webpage compatibility, and most of them are no longer able to render and display pages written in WAP.
Before the introduction of WAP, mobile service providers had limited opportunities to offer interactive data services, but needed interactivity to support Internet and Web applications such as , stock prices, news and sports headlines.

27. USSD vs. SMS
USSD vs. SMS Although SMS and USSD are contextually different, they share some features. Given table below lists the common and unique features of both of them.
Features
USSD
SMS
Out of band signalling channels
Yes
Communication characteristic
Real-time, Session based
Store and Forward
Communication entities
between MS and an USSD handler in an network entity
among Mobile Originated MS , MSC , Mobile Terminated MS
Communication protocol
SS7
Payload length
182 characters
160 characters

28. thank you!