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Free to End User text messaging (
FTEU
)
has been long discussed in the mobile industry as a necessary component to help spur growth and adoption of SMS campaigns. However, carrier adoption has been slow to non-existent. Currently, only AT&T/Cingular and T-Mobile support FTEU and Verizon Wireless has agreed to this, and there’s no guarantee the other carriers will follow suit any time soon.
FTEU essentially requires mobile marketers to pay the carrier a higher per message fee and text messages are then sent to the consumer, free of charge, regardless of their text messaging plan. This adds a new layer to existing carrier billing systems and one of the major stumbling blocks has been the carriers’ ability to implement new billing gateways. This, understandably, has slowed down the process to get FTEU up and running within most of the big carriers.
Still, it is somewhat surprising carriers haven’t fully embraced FTEU, given how lucrative text messaging has become to their bottom lines. FTEU has tremendous implications in certain business sectors including healthcare, financing, government, emergency response, and appointment reminders and notices. Yet, as more companies start to delve into mobile marketing and text messaging communications and consumers start to receive many potential messages per day, FTEU support from each carrier will become that much more important. For example, financial institutions, anxious to cut down on paper costs, would like to send billing notices/past due warnings via text message. However, without FTEU in place, sending even one message (regardless of intent) that the consumer has to pay for could lead to trouble for the company, including potential law suits.
The bottom line is that FTEU is long overdue and becoming increasingly important to help ensure that mobile marketing and communications continues to flourish. It is iVision Mobile’s goal to be at the forefront of FTEU technology and to leverage the delivery method on behalf of our clients.
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