Mobile Network Operators can increase Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS volumes and revenue with value-based pricing strategies.
November 11th, Stockholm, Sweden: A report published today by Enea and Mobilesquared shows that mobile network operators (MNOs) could add up to USD 29.4 billion in revenue over the next five years by adopting value-based pricing for application-to-person (A2P) SMS.
A2P SMS volumes are declining primarily due to rising international termination fees, resulting in lower operator revenues. The report outlines how shifting from flat-rate pricing to a value-based model can reverse this trend.
Key findings from the report:
Traffic sensitivity to pricing: Mobilesquared estimates that for every $0.01 increase above $0.10, A2P SMS traffic drops by 2.9%, using the current flat-rate pricing model.
Improved A2P SMS volumes: The report demonstrates that value-based pricing significantly slows the decline in A2P SMS traffic. With this model in place, Mobilesquared projects traffic losses to be less than half of those expected under flat-rate pricing.
By optimizing pricing per message category, MNOs can increase revenues by over 130%, as brands are projected to spend $29.4 billion more on A2P SMS over five years.
Rising international termination fees have reached levels that make it difficult for brands to justify A2P SMS costs, especially for non-critical messages. Flat pricing models ignore message value differences, leading to overpricing of lower-value categories.
Value-based pricing differentiates SMS charges based on message criticality. Implementing value-based pricing enables operators to maximize revenue per message category without risking overpricing the channel. To implement this, operators need to understand the purpose of messages. AI-driven SMS firewalls, such as the Enea Adaptive Messaging Firewall, provide per-message insights, enabling accurate billing and pricing enforcement. Enabling MNOs to unlock revenue aligns with Enea’s strategy to help customers monetize their services to maximize revenues and improve profitability.
“We’ve reached a tipping point where every price increase leads to a sharp drop in A2P SMS traffic. Our research shows that value-based pricing can slow this decline and help operators monetize their traffic more effectively,” said Nick Lane, Chief Messaging Officer, Messagologist, & Founder, Mobilesquared, and the principal author of the report.
“We’ve successfully deployed message categorization with customers for years. It’s a powerful and concrete application of AI, and this research confirms its potential to help operators unlock billions in revenue annually,” added John Hughes, SVP and Head of Network Security at Enea.
Report Availability
The full report “Lost in Termination: How Smarter A2P SMS Pricing can Recover Operator Revenue”, is available for download at: https://info.enea.com/lost-in-termination-report.
About Enea
Enea is a global specialist in advanced telecom and cybersecurity software, with a vision to make the world’s communications safer and more efficient. Dedicated to innovation and security, our solutions connect, optimize, and protect communications between people, companies, and connected things worldwide. We serve 170+ communication service providers across 100+ countries, with more than 3 billion people relying on Enea technologies every day. Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Enea is publicly listed on NASDAQ Stockholm. To learn more, visit enea.com.
About Mobilesquared
World leaders in business messaging intelligence, delivering decision-ready intelligence to our clients, backed by our market-leading independent messaging data and expertise. We’re now recognised as the leading global provider of messaging intelligence, and trusted partner to brands including Cisco, Meta, Orange, Accenture, PwC, Sinch, Infobip, Twilio and Vonage, to deliver reliably accurate intelligence and unflinching analysis. Our research is extensive and incorporates the views of over 350 companies from across the messaging ecosystem – including >180 mobile operators and >170 aggregators, CSPs, vendors, hub providers, interconnect providers, regulators, firewall providers, and independent consultants – who provide us with their data, insight and views of the sector. In January 2025, Mobilesquared merged with Kaleido Intelligence.
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