Clickatell has just announced that they are launching a mobile terminated (MT) SMS service in South Africa. Their solution is an innovative one, as it greatly differentiates itself from other text-based mobile services.

What makes their offer unique is that they charge users for the messages that they receive and not for those that they send. The idea is meant to make subscription-based content much more accessible. This means that Clickatell's customers are able to receive mobile messaging services only through a short code.

The new variable cost SMS service is meant to ease the lives of the users of Clickatell's services. "Using operator systems directly can sometimes introduce unnecessary complexities as message delivery and billing relies on different systems. By combining this into one interface, Clickatell ensures its customers do not have to be exposed to these hassles", commented Patrick Lawson, CTO at Clickatell.

The main benefit that mobile terminated premium rate services bring is that users do not have to send a text message to request for subscription-based information. All they have to do now is to subscribe for a certain service and then enjoy the promptness of automatically receiving the information they need to know.

"Clickatell can ensure a quick approval on shortcode applications and, by leveraging its good relationship with local networks, can guarantee delivery of text based messages at a scheduled time while ensuring users are billed at the predetermined rate", further declaired Patrick Lawson.

The SMS service is offered by Vodacom and MTN in South Africa. Even more, mobile telecommunication operators from this country offer variable billing, which allows a variety of services to come for the same shortcode. Each of these has different charges associated with the type of information that is provided. Interesting enough, Clickatell pays for the full revenue share to its customers.

Clickatell is the world leading mobile messaging company. It currently has a global coverage of more than 600 mobile networks in almost 200 countries.