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Text messaging or short message services (SMS) is one of  the most widely used services for mobile phones. It is a telecommunication protocol which allows sending of text messages less than 160 characters to mobile phones . This was developed originally for GSM phones, but today most mobile devices allow users to send and  receive SMSes.

The technical specifications for SMS are defined in the GSM recommendations. There are two types of  SMS services - Point to Point (for person to person) and cell broadcast which allows messages  to be sent to all users in a particular area. The text messages to be sent  are stored at the Short Message Service Centre (SMSC). Messages longer than 160 characters can be sent by concatenating 2 shorter messages.

The time taken to send messages depends on the number of  messages queued for broadcast  at the Short Message Service Centre and also if  the recipient's phone is in the area covered by the SMSC. If the recipient is not reachable, the SMSC will again retry sending the message, but there is no guarantee that the message will reach the recipient.

Though some networks will provide an acknowledgement of  SMS delivery, it is not very reliable, especially for messages transmitted between mobile phones of  2 different networks. Some SMSC will discard the text message sent, if they are unable to send it after a particular time period.

Bulk text messaging has become a popular form of  advertising in many countries. The message to be broadcast can come from some other application . The mobile operator may allow the application to interface with the Short Message Service Centre and broadcast the message to the target audience.