Verizon Wireless to Charge Content Vendors 3-Cent Fee for Text Messages

In a move that sets a new and potentially major precedent in the text messaging services market, content and messaging companies are going to have to cough up some dough if they want to deliver their goodies to Verizon Wireless customers. The nation’s No. 2 carrier has informed partners that it will add a 3-cent fee for every MT (mobile terminated) message processed on its network beginning Nov. 1. MT messages typically include text alerts, interactive voting notifications and SMS search responses. The fee is in addition to current MT-messaging fees, which typically cost the sender anywhere from a fraction of a penny to a few cents. The new charge applies to both standard-rate and premium programs, according to the e-mail notification (see below), but not to text-giving or free-to-end-user campaigns. (Free-to-end-user refers to any text campaign where the sender absorbs all the costs and the customer is not charged for receiving the message. Such campaigns have yet to be widely deployed in the United States.) The move is sure to spark outrage among a host of players in the space who use MT messages to deliver text-search results, provide real-time news and sports updates or deliver horoscopes or other information.
http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20081009/WIRELESS/810091609/0/all/verizon-wireless-to-charge-content-vendors-3-cent-fee-for-text