Have the operators press the panic button yet? SMS revenue down $14bn in 2011!

Daniel Thomas over at the FT highlights some potentially alarming research indicating that operators aren’t having a good time with messaging revenues:

Telecom operators lost almost $14bn in revenues in 2011 from a decline in text messaging owing to the rise in use of social messaging services provided free over the internet on smartphones, research has shown.

Ovum, the independent technology analyst, said that the $13.9bn loss represented nearly 9 per cent of total messaging revenues in 2011, and came on the back of an $8.7bn loss of SMS revenues in 2010.

via Texting revenues hit by web services – FT.com.

[There’s a subscription required to view the full post]

Although Daniel’s post is highlighting research — which can differ dramatically from reality, I very much reckon the writing is on the wall for operators and their messaging profits.

I’m pleased.

It’s been downright ridiculous, it really has. The amount of money charged to consumers for the transmission of 140 character text messages still continues to REALLY frustrate me.

Which is why for a long, long time, I take every opportunity to route my traffic via Apple’s iMessage or RIM’s BBM platform.