A short message service center (SMSC) is a network element in the mobile

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

 telephone network which delivers SMS

Short message service

Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...

 messages.

Operation

When a user sends a text message (SMS message) to another user, the message gets stored in the SMSC (short message service center) which delivers it to the destination user when they are available. This is a store and forward

Store-and-forward switching center

In telecommunication, a store-and-forward switching center is a message switching center in which a message is accepted from the originating user, i.e., sender, when it is offered, held in a physical storage, and forwarded to the destination user, i.e., receiver, in accordance with the priority...

 option.

An SMS center (SMSC) is responsible for handling the SMS operations of a wireless network.

1. When an SMS message is sent from a mobile phone, it will reach an SMS center first.
2. The SMS center then forwards the SMS message towards the destination.
3. The main duty of an SMSC is to route SMS messages and regulate the process. If the recipient is unavailable (for example, when the mobile phone is switched off), the SMSC will store the SMS message.
4. It will forward the SMS message when the recipient is available.

Validity period of an SMS message

An SMS message is stored temporarily in the SMS center if the recipient mobile phone is offline. It is possible to specify a cutoff period after which the SMS message will be deleted from the SMS center. Once deleted, the SMS message will no longer be available for dispatch to the recipient mobile phone (even if it becomes online).

Message status reports

The SMS sender needs to set a flag in the SMS message to notify the SMS center that he wants the status report about the delivery of this SMS message. This status report is sent to the SMS sender in the form of an SMS....

See also

• Short message service technical realisation (GSM)
  Short message service technical realisation (GSM)
  The Short Message Service is realised by the use of the Mobile Application Part of the SS#7 protocol, with Short Message protocol elements being transported across the network as fields within the MAP messages. These MAP messages may be transported using 'traditional' TDM based signalling, or...
  
  
• IS-41
  IS-41
  IS-41, also known as ANSI-41, is a mobile, cellular telecommunications system standard to support mobility management by enabling the networking of switches. ANSI-41 is the standard now approved for use as the network-side companion to the wireless-side AMPS , IS-136 , cdmaOne, and CDMA2000 networks...
  
  
• SMPP
• UCP/EMI
• CIMD
  CIMD
  Computer Interface to Message Distribution is a proprietary short message service centre protocol developed by Nokia for their SMSC .-Syntax:An example CIMD exchange looks like the following:...