Comments on: Premium SMS Fundraising and Operator Revenue Share

By: John

John — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 14:44:23 +0000

The other thing to remember is that VAT is payed on the ¬£1.50, so after VAT the value is only about ¬£1.27. VAT isn’t payed on donations to charities through other routes, which is why SMS looks expensive as a way of doing donations.

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 31 Mar 2006 08:56:59 +0000

In the UK the operator cut is less – about 25% on a GBP 1.50 text. But after that the aggregator needs to take their cut, then whoever’s fronting the deal, until finally the customer gets their slice.

For charities, the deal’s not attractive to the public because so much of their donation disappears en route, but I’ve worked on one event in the UK where the carriers agreed to donate their share at the end of the event, and I believe this is common for big charity events (ie events on TV). This does take some setting up, obviously, and the more obscure the charity, or the less mainstream the cause, the less likely the operators are to play along.

And, of course, it’s easier if you only have five networks to talk to!

By: OTAir

OTAir — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 15:48:36 +0000

Carriers’ take of approximately 40% of premium content, even in the case of fundraising, is quite disturbing. We’ve had non-profits talk with us about text message based fundraising, but so far it’s difficult to get them on board. It’s not so much they mind the carriers’ take, it’s the public outcry of almost half of their donation going to a profit company that they probably feel they are already giving too much money to.

You’re right, PayPal Mobile, or similar services in the works may be able to make mobile fundraising more attractive and put pressure on the carriers to reduce their take. It would benfit for the carriers because of good PR and it would increase the use of text messaging by their customers who would likely then use text messaging for other purposes that justifiably profit the carriers.