Watch Out for Leaky Pipes

Telcordia recently announced the results of a primary research study that spotlighted consumer challenges with the delivery of standard SMS and MMS mobile messages.  Alarmingly, 82 percent of respondents reported that an SMS or MMS message that they sent in the last 12 months did not reach an intended recipient.

Why is this finding important? On the back of the nearly 6 trillion mobile messages that Ovum estimates will be delivered in 2010, there seems to be a lot of money to be made anyway, right?  Communications services are only valued and valuable if they are reliable under even the most congested situations. This is particularly true for commodity services, where expectations are high and substitution costs are low. It is the perception of service deterioration that will send subscribers to alternate providers or channels. Service providers must take caution to guarantee the integrity and automation of routing and interconnection before perceptions become reality.

Adan Pope is the chief strategy officer for Telcordia, a global leader in the development of fixed, mobile and broadband communications software and services. He also serves as CTO for their OSS and service delivery businesses.