Despite having access to different OTT messaging services, 91 per cent of US smartphone users still send messages via SMS, according to a report from mobile messaging company Acision. In fact, 65 per cent of respondents said they depend on it.

The Seizing the Opportunity in Mobile Messaging report, based on research conducted by Vanson Bourne, found that 55 per cent use SMS as well as other messaging channels – one is not pushing out the other. And each channel seems to be used for different purpose. The top reasons stated for using SMS were core service capabilities – speed of delivery (47 per cent), reach (43 per cent) and reliability (38 per cent) – while the top reason for using OTT messaging was the ability to share content (28 per cent).

“Our motivation for undertaking this research was to understand the usage of SMS messaging, versus alternatives such as iMessage, WhatsApp and Facebook, particularly in light of recent news on the pressures these alternative services are having on operator SMS traffic and revenues,” says Steven van Zanen, SVP Strategy and Marketing at Acision. “We have created this report to provide insight into actual usage and messaging trends and provide operators with guidance on how to deal with messaging in a Smartphone dominated world, outlining how they can secure messaging revenues now and into the future and successfully compete and co-exist with alternative services.”