Everyone is aware of voice communication from one mobile to the other mobile and from landline phone to the

other
mobile/phone. Text based communication is slowly replacing the voice communication as it is very cheaper. When person
just want to send short information to someone they do not call and just send the message to the opposite person. This is
referred as SMS or short message service. But the difference between voice and SMS is that voice is realtime and SMS
is non-realtime.

SMS is about 160 characters maximum in size. It comes to about 140 bytes in GSM wherein each character is coded
with 7 bits.

As mentioned SMS is non-realtime service means SMS sent from one mobile to the other gets stored on SMSC and
computers before being delivered. It is also referred as store and forward service. For details of SMS path from
originating mobile to the terminating mobile refer our page on SMS MO/MT call flow.

SMS can be transported using signaling channel (i.e. SDCCH in GSM) when GPRS is not activated. If GPRS is activated it
can be carried on traffic channel too. As SMS is carried by signaling channel it can be sent while the voice or data
communication is in progress. For voice and data communication, the traffic channel or TCH is used.

SMS Types
Depending upon the application and the way SMS is sent from originating system to the terminating system it is classified
into Person to Person (P2P), Application/Advertiser to Person (A2P), and Person to Network (P2N) and Internet to
Person (I2P) categories. The same is described below.
Person to Person (P2P): This type of SMS is sent and received between two mobile subscribers. If SMS is within the same
RAT (i.e. say GSM to GSM) then originating and terminating SMSC is same. But if the SMS is within two different RATs then
originating SMSC sends the message to corresponding destination SMSC of terminating RAT.
Application/Advertiser to Person (A2P): In this type of SMS advertising agencies reach out to the service operator to send
their advertise details to the mobile subscribers registered with them. With this advertise detail service operator broadcasts
SMSs to the mobiles. This method is also referred as push mode.
Person to Network (P2N) or person to application (P2A): In this type of SMS, content provider will provide details such
as ringtones, games, and pictures to be downloaded to the network service operator/provider. They both will have
agreement and accordingly will be charged. In this type, service provider gives out short codes to the content provider.
Internet to Person (I2P): In this type of SMS, few websites allow net users to send SMS to the mobile subscribers from the
internet. Few websites also accept incoming messages from the mobile subscribers.

SMS network is composed of following network elements in GSM.

SMSC

HLR

MSC

VLR

BSC

BTS

MS or UE

SMS is carried by signaling channel (i.e.SDCCH) on the air interface from MS to BTS. Then SMS is transported by SS7
channel through BSC, MSC/VLR and SMSC.

As we know SMS has become everyone's daily need. In this article we will know MO SMS and MT SMS call flow. Let us
assume that MS-A is sending SMS to MS-B as shown in the figure. SMS delivery will go through two phases before it is
finally delivered. The phase of SMS travelling from originating mobile subscriber A to SMSC is referred as MO (Mobile
Originated) call and the phase from SMSC to mobile subscriber B is referred as MT (Mobile Terminated) call w.r.t. SMS.

SMS Mobile Originated and terminated Call flow

The diagram below depicts message flow or signals between various network elements when SMS is sent from MS-A to MSB.

Behind this SMS, there are basic protocols such as SS7 (Signaling System No.7) and SMPP (Short Message Peer to
Peer Protocol). SS7 supports communication between core network elements. SMPP is used in IP domain. SMPP is
responsible for communication between SMS Center (SMSC) and ESME (e.g. service provider/content provider).

Following are the steps for entire SMS process from originating mobile (MO) to terminating mobile (MT).

The SMS-SUBMIT is the MO FSM (Mobile Originating Forward Short Message) which is between origin MSC and
origin SMSC.

The message received by SMSC is acknowledged to the origin subscriber MS-A by SMS-SUBMIT REPORT. The MS-A
gets the indication message as "message sent" from origin SMSC.

Origin SMSC gets the required information from HLR regarding destination MSC/VLR to route the SMS. This information
is obtained by SRI SM request (Send Routing Information for Short Message). HLR responds the required information
to origin SMSC in RESP message.

After receiving the routing information origin SMSC delivers the message to respective destination MSC/VLR, which in
turn delivers the SMS to MS-B. The same is indicated in the figure by MT-FSM and MT-FSM ACK.

Once the SMS is delivered to the MS-B, MS-A gets indication message as "message delivered OR message
successfully delivered". The same is mentioned by SMS-STATUS REPORT in the figure.

Please note that connection from MS-A and MS-B is with the BTS as shown and BTS is connected with BSC and BSC is
interfaced with the MSC.