SMS-distribution service monopolization canceled in Tajikistan

A relevant resolution was signed by Beg Sabour, Head of the Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan on May 20.  

Mobile communications operators (Closed Joint-Stock Company (CJSC) Indigo Tajikistan, CJSC TT Mobile, CJSC Babilon Mobile and Tacom LLC) are instructed to notify all their partners of the adoption of that decision and sending the mentioned traffic in accordance with current conditions and requirements.

A2P, or application-to-person messaging, is any kind of traffic in which a person is receiving messages from an application.  A2P messaging includes (but is not limited to) marketing messages, appointment reminders, chat bots or virtual assistants, notifications, and one-time passwords (OTPs) or PIN codes.

It should be noted that currently, SMS-distribution services of companies are carried out via SMPP-gateways of mobile communications operators.  

SMPP, or Short Message Peer-to-Peer, is considered the industry standard for sending SMS to Network providers and a protocol for exchanging SMS messages between Short Message Service Centers (SMSCs) and/or External Short Messaging Entities (ESMEs).

Recall, participants of Tajikistan’s telecommunications market told Asia-Plus on May 5 on the basis of anonymity that the communications service agency has begun the process of monopolization of the SMS-message service in favor of an offshore company IRIS. 

This relates to SMS-messages, which taxi companies, banks, online-services, bookies and other organizations and companies send to their customers through mobile operators’ SMPP gateways.

The telecommunications market participants should have had to conclude contracts with that, according to some sources, offshore company, about which it is not yet possible to obtain sufficient information.

As a result of monopolization of the market, SMS distributions for legal entities would have risen in price, according to some data, up to 60 times – from 0.5 diram to 30 diram (from 0.05 somoni to 0.3 somoni).  This means a rise in the price of mobile communications for all users.

At the same time, permanent failures would have been expected, because a single gateway would be unlikely to be able to cope with the huge flow of notifications in a timely manner.  

“Hundreds of companies in the country use similar services, the volumes of SMS messages are colossal, and a single gateway will not withstand such loads.  As a result, there will be constant failures,” specialists say. 

But the biggest problem is that the unknown company would have had access to personal data and the personal correspondence of every Internet user.