The Short Message Service: Standards, infrastructure and innovation

• Examines the significance of the Short Message Service as an innovation.
• Summarizes early radio teleservices and first generation mobile telephony.
• Discusses the Global System of Mobile Communication’s Memorandum of Understanding.
• Describes the basic network architecture and elements of the Short Message Service.
• Historicizes text messaging standards and their technical realization.

The Short Message Service (SMS) is a teleservice developed by the Global System for Mobile Communication in the mid-1980s for second-generation mobile networks. SMS is made up of standards, protocols and infrastructure that make text messaging the most popular data service on mobile networks. The teleservice has been used in all subsequent generations of mobile telephony. This article discusses the development of the SMS teleservice standards (GSM 03.40), how it has influenced mobile telephony infrastructure, and how it remains a lasting communication innovation today. It historicizes text messaging standards and their technical realization by describing the network architecture and elements required for SMS transmission. This article illustrates how SMS standards and infrastructure represent a significant innovation to mobile telephony in the late twentieth century.