Mobile Terms
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| Term | Definition |
| 160 Characters: | The maximum number of characters supported across most US carriers. Nextel only supports 140 characters. |
| 1X: | Technology standard for 3G (third generation) high-speed wireless Internet service at speeds up to 153 Kbps. 1X was the first step in the CDMA2000 evolution after IS-95. 1X provides enhanced voice network capacity as well as high-speed packet data mobile wireless Internet access. 1X was previously known as 1XRTT. |
| 1XEV DO: | The second step in the CDMA2000 evolution includes the 1XEV family of technologies. 1XEV-DO focuses on data only, delivering download peak data rates of up to 2.4 Mbps to the end user. It is suitable for high bandwidth download applications such as enterprise VPN computing, MP3transfers and video streaming. |
| 3G (3rd Generation): | 3G networks enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency. Services include wide-area wireless voice wide telephony, video calls, and broadband wireless data, all in a mobile environment. Additional features also include HSPA data transmission capabilities able to deliver speeds up to 14.4 Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink. |
ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line): |
A technology for transmitting digital information at a high bandwidth on existing phone lines. Unlike dial-up Internet service, ADSL provides continuously available connectivity. It is asymmetric in that it uses most of the channel to transmit downstream to the user and only a small part to receive information from the user. |
| Aggregator: | Billing method other than premium SMS. This would typically be a credit card or PayPal. |
| Analog: | A transmission method employing a continuous (rather than pulsed or digital) electrical signal. |
| ARPU (Average Revenue Per Unit): | Average revenue per unit, or wireless subscriber, expressed as a rate per month for a given measurement period. |
| ASP (Application Service Provider): | An ASP is a company that offers content providers access over the |
| ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode): | A high-speed switching technology that routes voice, data and video at high speeds over the same network |
| Bandwidth: | The difference between the top and bottom limiting frequencies of a |
| Banking Campaigns: | Programs which involve transferring money via SMS. |
| BPS (Bits Per Second): | A measurement of data transmission speed used for measuring the amount of data that is transferred in a second between two telecommunication points or within network devices. Kbps (kilobits per second) is thousands of bits per second; Mbps (megabits per second) is millions; Gbps (gigabits per second) is billions; and Tbps (terabits per second) is trillions. |
| Bundle: | A group of telecommunications services (i.e., Internet, wireless, local exchange service long distance and calling features) that are sold service, together, which may offer customer benefits such as a lower price, a single point of contact and convenience. Bundles in Canada that include tariffed services must be approved by the CRTC. |
| Campaign: | A description of the product from an end user perspective, including how the product is marketed to the user, how they opt in, what messages they receive, how they get support and how they opt out. |
| Carrier Audit: | A document detailing areas where the carrier found a campaign to be out of compliance with carrier regulations. |
| Carrier Blacklist: | When a user terminates their contract with a carrier, ports to another number or requests not to receive SMS messages from shortcodes they will be placed on a blacklist. This list is passed from the carrier to the aggregator and on down the chain until it reaches the member of the value chain who maintains the database of active users. Blacklisted users must be unsubscribed from all campaigns. |
| CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access): | This technique spreads a signal over a frequency band that is larger than the signal to enable the use of a common band by many users and to |
| CDMA2000: | A third generation wireless standard adopted by the International |
| CDNA (Competitor Digital Network Access): |
Provides access arrangements to competitors for the digital transmission of information between end-customer premises served by an ILEC wire centre and a competitor's switch located in an ILEC's wire centre area or at an ILEC's wire centre, in which case it must terminate on the competitor's co-located equipment. |
| CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data): | A specification for supporting wireless access to the Internet and other public packet-switched networks at speeds up to 19.2 Kbps. |
| Cell Site: | Individual locations of network transmitter, receiver, antenna signaling and related base station equipment. Cell sites may be located on a |
| Cellular Network: | A radio network made up of a number of radio cells (or just cells) each served by a fixed transmitter, known as a cell site or base station. These cells are used to cover different areas in order to provide radio coverage over a wider area than the area of one cell Cellular networks are inherently asymmetric with a set of fixed main transceivers each serving a cell and a set of distributed mobile transceivers which provide services to the network's users. |
| Charity Campaign: | SMS programs in which a user opts into a service where proceeds will be donated to a charity program. |
| Chat Campaign: | Casual communication between two users. "Bot Chat" can occur between a user and an automated system that recognizes incoming text and provides an automated reply. |
| Churn Rate: | The number of subscribers terminating a service divided by the average |
| CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier): |
A telecommunications provider company (sometimes called a "carrier") |
| CTR (Click Through Rate): | A way of measuring the success of a mobile advertising campaign. A CTR is obtained by dividing the number of users who clicked on a WAP link by the number of times the ad was delivered (impressions). For example, if a banner ad was delivered 100 times (impressions delivered) and one person clicked on it (clicks recorded), then the resulting CTR would be 1 percent. |
| COA (Cost of Acquisition): | consists of the total of handset subsidies, commissions, and advertising and promotion expenses related to the initial customer acquisition during a given period. As defined, COA excludes costs to retain existing customers. |
| Content: | The item that the end user seeks to attain. Content could be a text alert, a ringtone, wallpaper, game, purchase of a movie ticket, etc. |
| Content Provider: | A company who develops, markets and typically hosts the content that the user seeks to attain. |
| Conversion Rate: | The ratio of visitors who convert casual content views or website visits into desired actions (typically purchases) based on a call to action from marketers, advertisers, and content creators. |
| Core Network: | The ultra high-speed national backbone carrying the aggregated traffic from all services from city to city, and within cities, to the edge of the network where individual access connections then carry the customer-specific traffic to the customer residence or premises. |
| CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission): |
The federal regulator for radio and television broadcasters, and cable-TV and telecommunications companies in Canada. |
| CSCA (Common Short Code Administration): |
All new short codes must be purchased through the CSCA (http://www.usshortcodes.com). |
| CTA (Call To Action): | The portion of an advertisement or marketing effort that requests that a consumer perform a specific action, typically relating to the purchase of content or enrollment in a program. |
| Dedicated Short Code: | Dedicated short codes are dedicated for only one customer. In the U.S. you can choose between vanity (hand-picked) and random codes, similar to picking a license plate. Vanity codes cost $1,000 per month to register and random short codes cost half that. (These amounts are billed quarterly) |
| Deep Links: | User clicks WAP link or WAP push which brings them directly to WAP page. Deep links are often used to connect off portal advertisements to an |
| Digital: | A transmission method employing a sequence of discrete, distinct pulses that represent the binary digits 0 and 1 to indicate specific information, in contrast to the continuous signal of analog. Digital networks provide improved clarity, capacity, features and privacy compared to analog systems. |
| Double Opt in: | Where a user initiates opt into a service (ex- sends MO or clicks button on website) and then confirms a second time that they would like to participate in the program. |
| eCommerce: | Refers to the buying and selling of goods and services electronically, usually via the Internet. Wireless e-commerce generally refers to mcommerce. See m-commerce. |
| End User: | The consumer of the product |
| ESMR (Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio): |
A network is designed not only for the dispatch service associated with SMR, but also for mobile telephony, short messaging services as well as circuit-switched and packet data services. See also iDEN. |
| ETL (Extract, Transform, and Load): | A process in data warehousing that involves extracting data from outside sources, transforming it to fit business needs (which can include quality levels), and ultimately loading it into the end target, i.e. the data warehouse. |
| Femtocell: | A small cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. It connects to the service provider's network via broadband (such as DSL or cable); current designs support up to 10 active mobile phones in a residential setting. A femtocell allows service providers to extend service coverage indoors, especially where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable. |
| Frame Relay: | A high-speed packet switching technology that has evolved to meet the LAN-to-LAN interconnection market. Frame relay is designed to provide high-speed packet transmission, very low network delay and efficient use of network bandwidth. |
| FTEU (Free to End User): | This implies that and End User will not incur a standard rate charge for the traffic. Since the End User doesn't pay for the messages, content providers will be billed at higher rates for delivering FTEU messages. |
| GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles): |
The term used to refer to the standard framework of guidelines for financial accounting used in any given jurisdiction. GAAP includes the standards, conventions, and rules accountants follow in recording and summarizing transactions, and in the preparation of financial statements. |
| Gifting Campaigns: | SMS program where users purchases content and sends to a friend as a "gift." |
| GPRS (General Packet Radio Services): | A packet-based wireless communication service that provides data rates up to 114 Kbps and continuous connection to the Internet for mobile phone and computer users. GPRS is based on GSM communication and complements existing services such as circuit-switched cellular phone connections and SMS. |
| GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication): |
The most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. Its promoter, the GSM Association, estimates that 80% of the global mobile market uses the standard. GSM is used by over 3 billion people across more than 212 countries and territories. Its ubiquity makes international roaming very territories. common between mobile phone operators, enabling subscribers to use their phones in many parts of the world. GSM differs from its predecessors in that both signaling and speech channels are digital, and thus is considered a second generation (2G) mobile phone system. This has also meant that data communication was easy to build into the system. |
| Handset: | A users mobile device |
| Hertz: | The dimensional unit for measuring the frequency with which an electromagnetic signal cycles through the zero-value state between lowest and highest states. One hertz (Hz) equals one cycle per second. KHz (kilohertz) equals one thousand hertz. MHz (megahertz) equals one million hertz. GHz (gigahertz) equals one billion hertz. |
| Hosting: | Provided by an ASP, hosting is the business of housing, serving and maintaining files, databases and software for one or more applications. |
| iDEN (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network): |
A mobile telecommunications technology, developed by Motorola, which provides its users the benefits of a trunked radio and a cellular telephone. iDEN places more users in a given spectral space, compared to analog cellular and two-way radio systems, by using speech compression and time division multiple access (TDMA). Sprint Nextel and SouthernLINC Wireless are the only US carriers to use this technology. |
| IM Campaigns: | Instant Messaging Programs |
| Impressions: | The number of times that an advertisement was presented to an audience. |
| Industry Canada: | The Canadian Federal Department of Industry, on behalf of the Canadian Minister of Industry. Among other mandates, Industry Canada has responsibility for national telecom policy and for the regulation, management and allocation of radio spectrum in Canada and for establishing technical requirements for various wireless systems. |
| IP (Internet Protocol): | The global Web of networks that connects computers around the world, providing rapid access to information from multiple sources. |
| IS-95 (Interim Standard 95): | A 2G Mobile Telecommunications Standard that uses CDMA, a multiple access scheme for digital radio, to send voice, data and signaling data (such as a dialed telephone number) between mobile telephones and cell sites. |
| ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network): |
A circuit-switched telephone network system, that also provides access to packet switched networks designed to allow digital transmission of voice networks, and data over ordinary telephone copper wires, resulting in better voice quality than an analog phone. |
| ISP (Internet Service Provider): | A company that provides Internet access service to residences and/or businesses. |
| IT (Information Technology): | A term that encompasses all forms of technology used to create, store, exchange and use information in its various forms (data, voice conversations, still images, motion pictures, multimedia and other forms, including those not yet conceived). |
| Java: | A Sun Microsystems general purpose programming language with a number of features that make the language well suited for and nearly ubiquitously used in mobile devices. Small Java applications are called Java applets and can be downloaded from a Web server to run on a computer or wireless phone with a Java-compatible Web browser. |
| Keyword: | A mobile originated command that triggers a particular response from an application receiving the message (ex- HELP or STOP). Keywords can also be used to distinguish users on a shared shortcode. |
| LAN (Local Area Network): | A way of connecting several computers, typically in the same room or building, so they can share files and devices like printers and copiers. |
| Local Loop: | The transmission path between the telecommunications network and a customer's terminal equipment. |
| mCommerce (Mobile Commerce or MCommerce): | The buying and selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices. |
| MDN (Mobile Directory Number): | The unique phone number used to identify the user on a network. MDN may also be referred to as an MSISDN. |
| Micro-Payment: | The purchase of goods or services (content) via premium SMS which are not consumed over the handset. This could be payment for access to a website or purchase of time on a parking meter. |
| MO (Mobile Originated): | This is a message that was sent from a mobile phone. |
| Mobile Marketing: | The utilization of one or more mobile channels (ex. WAP, SMS or MMS) for the purpose of promoting products and services. |
| MSISDN (Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Number): |
The unique phone number used to identify the user on a network. MSISDN may also be referred to as an MDN. |
| MT (Mobile Terminated): | This is a message that was sent to a mobile phone. |
| Multiplexing: | Sending multiple signals or streams of information on a carrier at the same time in the form of a single, complex signal and then recovering the separate signals at the receiving end. |
| MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator): |
A Mobile service operator without licensed spectrum or network that leases wireless capacity from other carriers. |
