Why MTN dislikes WhatsApp

diabolus said:
Randomly, when you dial a number, before the call connects, they play a freaking advert to you, kinda like when you play a youtube video and it plays an advert before you can see the real video? Like that. It is similar to the ads you hear when you phone their helpdesk while you are "on hold" .
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THat is frikkin madness! That can't be on the normal business contracts surely?!?!?

Thor187 said:
#MTNmustFall
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MTN are way to used to operating in countries where there is little transparency and fair business practices, so much so that they think this kind of junk can fly in SA.

Its like Telkom saying Microsoft must pay them to allow Skype over ADSL. Frikkin ridiculous.
 
Valerion said:
Not true. There are more than just the radio spectrum involved. A proper SMSC can costs many millions to integrate, test and deploy, and quite a pretty penny in license fees. Also, SMS messages are store-and-forward, so if your phone is off, the network has to store your SMS until it expires or until you come online again, which can require a lot of storage space in large operators.
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Actually true...

My memory of all this is a bit fuzzy, so excuse me if I don't describe something perfectly, but I suggest you read this, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_System_No._7
and this, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Message_Service, particularly the message size part.

They embed the SMS as part of the payload of something that was there already, called the control channel which handles your cellphone's presence in a cell and tells it to ring and so forth. Yes the SMSC has/had to be developed and storage has to be provided, but seriously, that makes a SMS saying "I love you" cost 80 cents, while a Whatsapp message saying the same thing costs less than 1c?

They are kicking up a fuss because they aren't getting as much free money anymore.
 
Boksie said:
Actually true...

My memory of all this is a bit fuzzy, so excuse me if I don't describe something perfectly, but I suggest you read this, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_System_No._7
and this, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Message_Service, particularly the message size part.

They embed the SMS as part of the payload of something that was there already, called the control channel which handles your cellphone's presence in a cell and tells it to ring and so forth. Yes the SMSC has/had to be developed and storage has to be provided, but seriously, that makes a SMS saying "I love you" cost 80 cents, while a Whatsapp message saying the same thing costs less than 1c?

They are kicking up a fuss because they aren't getting as much free money anymore.
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Your original post said there was no cost at all. I am simply pointing out the cost that you are not talking about. Because that makes it non-free. Perhaps not worth 80c, agreed, but there must be a cost involved, and that's really for the operator to decide on.

And I do know SS#7 and SMSC's and SMPP very well, used to work in that industry, that's why I know there's no such thing as a free SMS on a network.
 
Valerion said:
Your original post said there was no cost at all. I am simply pointing out the cost that you are not talking about. Because that makes it non-free. Perhaps not worth 80c, agreed, but there must be a cost involved, and that's really for the operator to decide on.

And I do know SS#7 and SMSC's and SMPP very well, used to work in that industry, that's why I know there's no such thing as a free SMS on a network.
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And for the user to decide to use or not to, and to bypass if possible.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that from an equipment cost viewpoint the SMS system isn't just "ornery data" (whatever that is). Rather, the equipment used to manage, store, inject and retrieve the SMS is much more closely tied to the expensive part of the (voice) network, at least historically, and so saying "SMS is just data" isn't really true from a higher layer network perspective. Which is why SMSs cost a lot more.
 
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# sms must fall,sms is only valuable when you are in a meeting
 
Be brave MTN. Block WhatsApp and say goodbye to your subscribers.
Sounds rather like the ANC vs Students to me. Lol
This ceo is complaining because he is is losing out on his bonus.
Ag shame for him.
 
I forgot to add that there is no delay in WhatsApp delivery of messages.
Now sms's on the other hand .....
 
REAList_1 said:
This ceo is complaining because he is is losing out on his bonus.
Ag shame for him.
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Haha. Dream on.

FYI, here's the revenue split:

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diabolus said:
I'm still not over the BS ads they play before you make an outgoing call, and that is on a contract phone too, the bloody cheek. I'm seriously moving next year, MTN is clearly run by morons.
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say what? you have to listen to an add before the call connects? :wtf:
 
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