Short Message Service (SMS) – The Creation of Personal Global Text Messaging

Friedhelm Hillebrand, Managing Partner of Hillebrand & Partners Consulting Engineers, Germany Fred founded Hillebrand & Partners in 2001and prior to that he held leading positions in ETSI. From 1996-2000 he was Chairman of ETSI SMG responsible for all GSM and UMTS standardisation work (200 Plenary delegates, 10 sub committees, more than 1000 participants). Before that he was a Technical Executive at GSM MoU Association responsible for GSM and UMTS evolution and development strategy and GSM promotion at global level. He is described as one of the "Fathers of GSM".

Introduction. 1 Communication Networks in the Early 1980s and the Portfolio of GSM Services (F. Hillebrand). 1.1 Station-to-station Morse Telegraphy, the Origin of All Modern Technical Text Communication. 1.2 Network-based Communication Services in the Early 1980s. 1.3 Services Portfolio of GSM. 1.4 GSM Mobile Telephony and SMS - the Most Successful Telecommunication Services. 2 Who Invented SMS? (F. Hillebrand). 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 Clarification of the Terms 'Invention' and 'Innovation'. 2.3 Was SMS Invented during the ISDN Work? 2.4 Was SMS Invented by Test Engineers, Students or in a Pizzeria Session? 2.5 A Clarifying Discussion within the GSM Community in Spring 2009. 2.6 Timetables of SMS Genesis. 3 The Creation of the SMS Concept from Mid-1984 to Early 1987 (F. Hillebrand). 3.1 The Birth of the SMS Concept in the French and German Network Operators. 3.2 The Standardisation of the SMS Concept in the GSM Committee from February 1985 to April 1987. 3.3 The Acceleration of the GSM Project, Including SMS in 1987. 4 The Technical Design of SMS in DGMH from June 1987 to October 1990 (F. Trosby). 4.1 Background. 4.2 Some Personal Sentiments at the Start. 4.3 The Instructions that IDEG Were Given for Provision of SMS. 4.4 Overall Description of the Work in the Period from 1987 to 1990 and Work Items Dealt with. 4.5 The SMS of September 1990. 4.6 Major Design Issues. 4.7 Final Remarks on the Period of the First Three Years of DGMH. 4.8 Work on SMS in GSM Bodies Outside GSM4. 4.9 Other Tasks of DGMH. 5 The Evolution of SMS Features and Specifications from October 1990 to the End of 1996 (K. Holley). 5.1 Topics Discussed in this Chapter. 5.2 Technical Improvements to SMS 1990-1996. 5.3 Concluding Remarks on the SMS Period 1990-1996. 6 The Evolution of SMS Features and Specifications from the Beginning of 1997 to Mid-2009 (I. Harris). 6.1 SIM Toolkit Data Download and Secure Messaging. 6.2 SMS Compression. 6.3 Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS). 6.4 Voicemail Management. 6.5 Routers. 6.6 Language Tables. 6.7 Other Important Standards Work for SMS. 6.8 The End of an Era. 6.9 Further Reading. 7 Early Commercial Applications and Operational Aspects (I. Harris). 7.1 Fixed-network Connection to the SMS-SC. 7.2 Network Operator Interworking, Roaming and Number Portability. 7.3 Third-party SMS-SCs. 7.4 Intelligent Terminal Connections to Mobile Phones. 7.5 SMS Keyboard Text Entry. 7.6 SMS to Fax and SMS to Email. 7.7 Two-way Real-time Messaging Applications. 7.8 Performance. 7.9 SMS Traffic Growth. 7.10 Billing. 7.11 The Content Powder Access (CPA) Model Deployed in Norway. 7.12 SMS in 2009. 8 Global Market Development (F. Hillebrand). 8.1 The Creation of a Large Base of Mobiles and the Global SMS Infrastructure. 8.2 First Use of SMS by Network Operators. 8.3 How SMS Was Discovered by Young People and Became a Part of the Youth Culture and Widely Accepted. 8.4 SMS Has Become the Leading Mobile Messaging Service and Will Stay in the Lead in the Forseeable Future. 9 Conclusions (F. Hillebrand). 9.1 Factors that Were Critical for the Success of SMS. 9.2 Proposals for a Further Evolution of SMS: SMS Phase 3. 9.3 What Can be Learnt from SMS for Standardisation in Other Areas. Annex 1 Abbreviations Used in Several Parts of the Book. Annex 2 Sources for Quoted GSM Documents and Other Documents. Annex 3 Meetings of IDEG/WP4/GSM4 and DGMH in the Period from May 1987 to September 1990. Annex 4 DGMH Attendance in the Period from May 1987 to September 1990. Annex 5 Meetings of GSM4/SMG 4 and DGMH in the Period from October 1990 to the End of 1996. Annex 6 DGMH Attendance in the Period from October 1990 to the End of 1996. Annex 7 Evolution of GSM Specification 03.40. Annex 8 Literature. Annex 9 Brief Biographies of the Authors. Index.