Ascision Launches Collect SMS Platform with Claro Peru

Ascision, a developer of mobile engagement services, recently announced that it will be working with Claro Peru, a wireless telecommunications carrier, to provide the telecom with the Ascision Collect SMS platform.

Ascision Collect will allow Claro to continue to offer basic texting services to mobile customers by taking advantage of a simple transfer of funds. Using Collect—launched under the title “SMS Cobrar” in Peru—a mobile user who has run out of funds in his account can request that his intended receiver accept the charges for a text. The move comes alongside increased usage of SMS in Peru and attempts to maximize the monetization of that growing user base. Vanessa Solis, the manager of value added services with Claro Peru, spoke in her company's announcement about the launch.

“Our main focus aims to expand the range of value added services we offer to our users and enhance their experience. The 'SMS Cobrar' service allows our users to use this valuable communication tool as many times as required, even when they have exhausted their balance recharge,” Solis said.

Although any number of populations may run out of funds in their accounts at one time or another, Ascision points to a “youth” market as being most likely to have a need for SMS Cobrar. Although the service can process texts between friends, it can also manage texts between family members or trusted community officials—messages that may be of a more important nature.

Following the Mobile World Congress this year, TMC noted that Ascision's services represent something unique to the market of communication. Companies once feared, at one time years back when SMS was just getting a stronghold, that revenue from subscription models would dwindle and monetization of communication in the standard model of the time would be unsustainable. Those companies were right; now, however, they have app stores and revenue distribution models (see SMS Cobrar) that make up the difference. TMC notes that acceptance rates with Ascision Collect can reach as much as 40 percent. That is a lot of shared revenue between consumers.

Ascision notes that this model has become established in the Latin America market. It has added another source to the monetization of mobile and SMS while also providing a positive experience for mobile users.