Background
The lack of complete international SMS interoperability is caused by the way the GSM world is interconnected: each operator has a need to establish SMS interworking with all other mobile operators, meaning that international SMS can only transit from one operator to another if there is a bi-lateral roaming agreement in place.
While SMS interoperability is limited to bi-lateral interworking / roaming agreements between operators, it is unlikely that full international SMS reach will be achieved by setting up more and more agreements, which are time consuming and costly to put in place. In addition to that, the revenue benefits of an extra interworking connection might not justify the investment required to set it up in the first place.
SMS hubbing enables a broad international SMS coverage for mobile operators (“client operators”) through the connection to independent hubs, who have multiple agreements in place with other operators, therefore being able to route messages on behalf of the client operators.
SMS Hubbing works with the same concept of voice connectivity model: rather than relying on costly and multiple individual agreements, voice traffic flows via telehouses, which are basically hubs for voice. In the same way, many operators connect to hubs to transit MMS messages, in an attempt to fix the many interoperability problems with this messaging technology. SMS Hubbing is about simplifying the SMS interworking system, by replacing much of the unproductive, identical investments in international agreements made traditionally by mobile operators. As well as this, SMS Hubbing is about providing a higher level of service to SMS, by introducing end-to-end quality of service through Service Level Agreements (SLAs).
It is clear that SMS Hubbing does not replace bilateral agreements. Every operator has the need to establish roaming agreements in order to provide subscribers with the possibility to roam outside their home network. Outside this frame of main roaming agreements that generate the majority of international traffic for voice and messaging, it makes sense for mobile operators to allocate SMS traffic that belongs to non-connected destinations to an SMS hub.
Read more about this topic: SMS Hubbing
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