Companies using text messages to send airline updates, online auction tracking, sports scores, and answers on the go will now face stiffer fees from Verizon starting November 1. In order to send mobile messages to Verizon customers, content and messaging companies face a 3 cent per mobile terminated (MT) message charge.
These charges do not apply to Free-2-End-User (companies who pre-pay to send MT messages -- a rarity in the U.S.), Mobile Giving (text charity donations) or Non-Profit organizations.
What the fee hike means is that Verizon gets paid three times for each message. First, they get the base rate MT messaging fee, which is so minimal it's almost non-existent. Then they get 20 cents from the customer for receiving the message -- already a source of legal contention. And now they have added another 3 cents to the transaction.
Three cents may not sound like a lot, but think about how much profit ESPN generates for sending you the latest Red Sox score. Nothing. Raising the fee may eventually discourage companies from participating in the convenient service.
While this may seem like unfettered greed on Verizon's behalf -- and a lot of it is -- these new charges may put a damper on SMS Spam messages, making the process of mass distributing garbage too expensive for less-than-fabulously-wealthy content providers.
If other mobile carriers follow suit -- which they may well do -- the industry of MT messaging may downsize to the point of shutting down. This move also sets a negative example for a company that's supposed to connect rather than divide customers from what they want.
