Rural Network Orders PrePay SMS Platform

LogicaCMG has announced that Dobson Communications, a provider of wireless phone services to rural markets in the USA, has selected its pre-paid SMS solution. Using LogicaCMG's pre-delivery service agent (PSA), Dobson Communications will offer pre-paid SMS service to subscribers, with the potential to upgrade seamlessly to prepaid support for GPRS and further next-generation messaging services, such as MMS, in the future.

Subscribers will now be able to use enhanced prepaid services, such as premium messaging, billing and rating capabilities, matching the services already available to postpaid customers. LogicaCMG's PSA is also interoperable with legacy billing solutions, enabling Dobson Communications to deploy the solution easily and rapidly.

The PSA billing solution being implemented enables Dobson Communications to charge for all SMS services. The price for each message is calculated and the subscriber's balance is debited prior to each message being delivered, which provides a reliable user experience and closes fraud windows. Premium rated content, such as ring tones and logos, can also be charged at different rates to maximize revenue.

Tim Duffy, senior vice president and chief technical officer for Dobson Communications, said: "Based on Dobson's strong working relationship with LogicaCMG, it was a natural choice when we needed a prepaid SMS solution within our next-generation messaging architecture. Its messaging and billing expertise offers advanced functionality that should enable us to enter new markets, improve customer satisfaction and reduce churn. Our launch of enhanced services for prepaid customers is another step in our ongoing commitment to offer our subscribers innovative mobile services."

Posted to the site on 12th February 2004