It took person-to-person SMS just a few years to skyrocket and fall by the wayside to OTT-messaging. Despite that development, a variety of industries has discovered and embraced the vast opportunities of Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging.

In their report SMS Wholesale Special: The A-to-Z of A2P Capacity Magazine sums up the results of mobile messaging and forecasts worldwide revenues. Although P2P SMS Messaging has rapidly declined since Whatsapp, Telegram, Viber, WeChat came in, A2P messaging grew steadily, thanks to easy-to-setup applications that allow fast notifications and alerts through SMS.

OTT

Deloitte predicted these results in their 2013 report TMT Predictions 2014. “We expect SMS will amply overcome OTT service if it comes to revenue”, said Paul Lee, Duncan Stewart and Jolyon Barker of Deloitte.

Revenues

Capacity Magazine: “Last year, Ovum estimated that there was robust 16% year-on-year growth in A2P messaging traffic in 2013 and that the market will experience a compound annual growth rate of 6% between 2013 and 2017. At the same time, the research company predicts that overall SMS revenues will see relatively flat growth year-on-year over the same period and then start to decline in 2017.”

A2P and P2A

Ovum, a telecom research company, predicts the next four years will see an explosive growth in the number of A2P SMS-based technologies. “Mobile operators should be well prepared to leverage these opportunities. A2P revenues show potential for growth in an otherwise declining SMS trajectory.”

Important industries

Capacity Magazine pinpoints five specific industries to watch if it comes to growth in A2P SMSrevenues. Transport and Logistics, Healthcare, Banking and Finance, Retail and Hospitality and – ironically – OTT players are industries that will be revenue growers for SMS service providers andoperators, for example through their authentication process, which is handled merely using SMS.

Other interesting stats:

  • Total global SMS revenues decline from 133,9 billion dollar to 132,1 billion dollar.
  • A2P and P2A SMS revenues increase with 4,5%, from 48,2 billion dollars to 50,4 billion dollars.
  • In total, 38% of the SMS traffic worldwide comes from A2P and P2A traffic.
  • A2P is especially popular in Europe and North America.
  • Biggest grow markets however are parts of Asia, Africa and Latin America, which are embracing mobile developments.
  • A2P traffic will double in the next five years in Sub Saharan Africa.