Press Release 27 April 2006

http://www.cd3wd.com/SAM/SamPPT.htm - a powerpoint presentation in webpage format

http://www.cd3wd.com/SAM/sam.zip - a zipped-up file of the sams.doc plus the powerpoint slideshow file

Press Release - 27 April 2006

Version 4 – 23 January 2007 – minor modifications and additions, mainly the statement immediately below regarding mobilearts.com, plus a revision downwards of the royalty payment. Plus the powerpoint presentation.

Version 5 – 17 November 2008 – a major change to the concept – there is no need for printing or distribution of envelops – the initial SAM number can be issued automatically by sending a blank sms message to the messaging centre – the SAM number and the PIN number are issued automatically by response sms… - this is a major improvement since it means no organization of printing and distribution…. Plus there is more discussion of the practical implementation of SAM’s including 3 business models….

Version 6 – 4 December 2008 – an extra feature – regarding PIN number(s) and checking for messages – see end of document below

The company Mobilearts of sweden (www.mobilearts.com) have reviewed this project in principle and are reasonably convinced that it is technically feasible. Moreover they have the technologies to implement this project for an international client

Concept outline - SMS-based answerback mailbox - SAM

This is a phone number to which only SMS messages can be sent. It is not linked to a SIM card or to a physical mobile or fixed phone. Messages can be retrieved by sending an SMS to a service number quoting the phone number and its associated pin code - then all outstanding stored messages are resent to that originating phone number in one or several SMS messages, within seconds or minutes of the originating request. A variation of this uses a sms-only-capable message centre number and effectively a mail box or phone extension number (see below for discussion)

Q. Who uses it?

A. People too poor to buy a mobile phone (yes - they do exist!)

Q. Advantage for the user?

A. It brings modern electronic messaging to the poor and to those in remote areas

Q. Advantage for the operators?

A. It gives non-phone owners the taste of the advantages of phone ownership; and SMS costs to the operator are effectively zero.

Q. Advantage for economy/society/government?

A. It can stimulate small business, by bringing telecoms even to small business who couldn’t afford it. Tie this in with free advertising newspapers and you stimulate small business.

Q. Others who gain?

A. Phone shop operators, mobile payphone operators.

Q. Other practicalities?

A. Was previously – “Numbers allocated by a small envelope only, with phone number on outside, PIN number on inside. Can be sold for nominal price or distributed free of charge. Can be distributed/sold by recharge card vendors.” – is now changed to - there is no need for printing or distribution of envelops – the initial SAM number can be issued automatically by sending a blank sms message to the messaging centre – the SAM number and the PIN number are issued automatically by response sms… - this is a major improvement since it means no organization of printing and distribution….

Instead of using a phone service to make the Message Retrieval SMS (MRS), many people will use a friend's phone (with or without payment)

SAM can be registered by structured SMS to callcenter against a national ID document, then if pin nr is lost and/or forgotten can be reissued (same or different pin number) against show of document (a chargeable process). Addendum 17 November 2008 – probably no need to do this kind of registration thing – if someone loses their PIN then the SAM number becomes unuseable for retrieval – any SAM number which does not retrieve at least once per 6 months (or similar) period will be recycled and reallocated to someone else – will stop accepting messages and will not issue messages against the original PIN.

User can change pin number by a structured SMS message to the callcenter.

Originating message retrieval SMS (MRS) can be done with several SAM's (and corresponding pins) in one message - this reduces cost of checking your mailbox since you divide by 2,3,4 etc.. This will probably only be used for SAM’s which rarely receive messages.

SAMs can be given away free and can be done with free originating SMS for some initial period if takeup is not immediate and overwhelming.

Number can be linked temporarily short-term/long-term to a real mobile phone nr to have incoming SMS redirected to that physical phone... operation is done by SMS with pin number and destination phone nr – a structured SMS.

Message retrieval can operate across national boundaries? – maybe that becomes a chargeable add-on to an otherwise free SAM service. Could be very useful for internationally mobile persons.

When a SAM user converts to a real mobile line all incoming SMS can be redirected to that real line.

The SMS for message retrieval (MRS) could be made free-of-charge, since all incoming SMS generate revenue themselves – there should be no need to levy the SMS for checking if messages exist; certainly at service startup the MRS (message retrieval SMS) should be made cost-free.

To increase SAM security, if desired by MPP and/or clients, then a series of TAN’s (transaction authorization numbers) instead of one single PIN number can be used to request message callback.

Q. Potential coverage?

A. Uganda 2006 has 8% phones/person - watch this go to 16-32-64% SAMs within 6 months of SAM startup…

Q. Marketing advantages?

A. Mobile operators who offer SAM’s can build brand loyalty.

Q. What if a national government wants SAM’s but all the mobile phone providers (MPP’s) are lukewarm or negative?

A. By regulation, the national government can require that MPP’s provide say 3 x the number of their mobile phone lines as SAM’s (this factor can be chosen by the government, and/or negotiated).

Q. Is there a market in Western Economies?

A. Almost certainly not – since everyone there can afford their own mobile phone and line.

Q. What is the equipment impact on MPP’s?

A. Effectively Zero – the whole concept merely involves a very minor expansion of MPP’s database capacity and some software changes/enhancements.

Q. What are the practicalities of setting up a SAM?

A. There are 3 business models which I see – the neatest is that MNP’s (mobile network providers or mobile phone network operators) establish a SAM – probably one per country. The problem with international or transnational sam’s is that international sms are normally charged at 2x or more per domestic sms. But MNP’s like Zain and maybe MTN are making moves to operate regionally, so maybe one SAM per region or per continent may be more feasible.

The second business model is that a non-MNP independent operator establishes a SAM (or multiple SAM’s). This can be problematic since SAM’s are not designed to make any profit, but SAM’s may be set up and sponsored by someone like Coca Cola or Pepsi who are using the SAM simply as an advertising vehicle – and each message can contain some advertising also (though how much within 184 characters could be a problem for the advertiser). Or SAM’s may be set up as a developmental tool to encourage small business, either in isolation or as part of a larger program (e.g. free advertising for SME’s and individuals). In this second model, if an open and free sms gateway service can be set up within the country or region concerned, then operating a SAM requires only:

- An email account which can work in conjunction with an automatic application to receive and send emails (i.e. gmail and yahoo would not qualify since every now and then they require a human-tested graphic number/letter combination to be input by the user). Such email accounts are often bundled with web hosting deals for very little money

- A robot application which effectively stores the SAM data in a database (which can be a mysql, postgresql, sql server express or other free database) and which sends and receives automatic emails to the sms gateway

The Third business model is when there is no free and open sms gateway service available and the SAM operator has to set up such a sms gateway himself/herself – this can be done using freeware software and a high-end mobile phone or gsm modem.

In model 3 above the SAM operator is absorbing the cost of the sms’s; in model 2 the sms gateway operator is absorbing the cost of the sms’s

Note that having an open and free (or affordable) sms gateway service opens the door to many many interactive data services, including mobile banking, free classified advertising for SME’s, individuals and business etc etc..

In fact MNP’s for Corporate Social Responsibility reasons should be falling over themselves to implement SAM’s and also Open Free SMS Gateway Services.

Note that in an ideal world (and in an implementation of model 1 probably), a sam number is something like +254 333 222 555 or +263 999 555 423, but that with models 2 and 3 above, a sam number is much more likely to be something like +254 111 222 333 x 675432001 where the ‘extension’ 675 432 001 is the SAM number and the +254 111 222 333 is effectively the message centre number – i.e. you send an sms to +254 111 222 333 which reads “675 432 001* please contact me urgently regarding a painting job-phone me on 023 824 045 or come to 4 brechin drive Marlboro Nairobi” – then the system routes the message to its internal mailbox number 675 432 001. The SAM holder sends an sms to +254 111 222 333 which reads “675 432 001*12345” where 12345 is the correct issued PIN number – then the system replies with any and all outstanding messages…

Extra Feature – 4 December 2008 – note that when the SAM number is initially issued, there can be 3 PIN numbers given out – PIN3 – the highest level – retrieves the full text of all stored messages and also deletes those same stored messages. PIN2 – the second highest level – merely retrieves the number of messages and the originating phone number or SAM from which those messages came. PIN1 – the lowest level – only sends back the number of (read and unread) messages in storage. This enables a SAM owner to use one or several people as ‘message scouts’ for him or her, without allowing them to actually read the messages. This can be useful especially when someone hardly ever gets any messages and is not near a handset for checking.

Additional Extra Feature – 4 December 2008 – note that the user can allocate a nickname, pseudonym or alias to his or her account – i.e. +254 111 222 333x675432001 can become +254 111 222 333 xfiftycents – then also when a user finds out by using PIN2 that he or she has a message from ‘fiftycents’ then he can remember and visualize who this person is (whereas remembering 675432001 is much more difficult). When querying the account, either the number or the pseudonym can be used and the system will recognize either/both… This is like ‘personalizing’ one’s SAM account….

Additional Extra Feature – someone who has sent a message to a SAM can query if and when that message has been read, listed or origin-read (as per PIN3, PIN1, and PIN2)

Alexweir1949@gmail.com

http://www.cd3wd.com/SAM/

Additional material 28 April ‏2006‏‏-

MPP’s may provide facility for SAM user to dispatch SMS’s from within their account – thereby making replying simple and more error-free – call this a virtual sender (VS) facility or feature.

User can set up groups to be SMS’d using their virtual sender facility as above.

MPP’s may choose to provide email-to-SAM, SAM-to-email, web-to-SAM, SAM-to-web interfaces.

Additional material 19 July 2006.

I will require a royalty payment of US$ 0.0001 (was previously US$ 0.0005) per sms message made to or from any and every sms answerback mailbox; this rate is a global rate regardless of country of origin or termination of sms. These payments should be made quarterly. Statements should be emailed monthly. This rate will be subject to negotiation downwards with individual Mobile Phone Operators.

Mr Alexander Weir

4 Brechin Drive

Marlborough

Harare

Zimbabwe

19 July 2006

Feedback:

-----Original Message-----
From: Dr. Ashish Manohar Urkude

Sent: 19 July 2006 12:32
To: Alexweir1949@yahoo.com
Subject: I liked your concept when I read it on the URL: http://www.cd3wd.com/SAM/index.htm

July 19, 06/ Dr. Ashish to Mr. Alex/ About participation in the World Bank -Discussion

Dear Mr. Alex Weir,

Could you send some more details about your concept? We have problem in Rural India we could use it there.

Thanks and Regards.

Sincerely,

Dr. Ashish

Dr. Ashish Manohar Urkude
Professor and Head Research
Symbiosis Center for Management and HRD,
15, Rajeev Gandhi Infotech Park,
M.I.D.C, Hinjewadi,
Pune, Maharashtra State, India.
Zip Code- 411057

Feedback:

Find a reference to SAM by myself at

http://rru.worldbank.org/Discussions/Discussion.aspx?id=74

http://www.knowprose.com/node/16011

Submitted by Taran on Saturday, June 10, 2006 - 10:36

ICT; Technology · People and Communications · Personal Notes · QuickProSE · Realist Cult · Technology & Communications · Technology and Society · Technology Observations · Warm Fuzzy

There was a minor emergency (one Uncle tried BASE jumping without a parachute, he seems to be fine) so I'm a bit behind. Oddly enough, the network has been undependable for voice calls over the past 2 days - our wonderful TSTT in action again. SMS, at least, gets through even if you get the messages in a week. :-)

Thus, when I came across this Development Gateway Resource, I saw a lot of potential - and thus, I read up a bit more on SMS-based answerback mailbox (SAM). One number, multiple SMS recipients.

But you can do that with an Asterisk server too. In fact, that may be what they are using, the Open Source PBX.

It seems like it comes from the same base as Frontline SMS - but it's distinct in that a PIN number is used, as far as I can tell. You can read more about Frontline SMS here.

The general idea of both of these ideas is maximizing communication. It's odd that telecommunications providers haven't already nailed down these sorts of services globally, but... catering to poor people is not what they are famous for. Still, there are plenty of business scenarios where they could be used.

From Emergency SMS to business, these technologies are worth keeping an eye on.

There's a half formed idea in the back of my head on this... when it ripens, I'll see if it has seeds. But maybe someone else will think of it first. :-)

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/ItemDetail.do~1063710?intcmp=700&itemId=1063710&itemId=1063710&itemId=1063710

Information and Communication Technologies for Development

Sms answerback mailboxes - exciting new mobile telephony concept for 3rd world

sme's and one-man business can have a phone number without paying for a phone.

Contributor: alex weir

Published Date: June 8, 2006

Topics: Information and Communication Technologies for Development

Country: All Regions/Country