What is SMPP to SIGTRAN (SMPP to SS7) converter Gateway?

In this article we will examine the utility of “SMPP to SIGTRAN” or “SMPP to SS7” Gateway solution for a business. SMPP protocol or Short Message Peer-to-Peer Protocol has slowly become a de-facto industry standard for SMS exchange for A2P and P2A business cases. Majority of the SMS traffic today consists of A2P messages. Bulk SMS Operators providing services like, SMS advertising and transaction SMS’s generally own SMPP platforms and utilize an SMPP based connectivity to Mobile Operators for sending SMS messages.

The Mobile Operator providing SMPP connectivity to its SMSC, would generally charge based on per SMS. SMPP also works over TCP which is considered a slow protocol and not considered appropriate for telecom grade applications. This is the key factor due to which SCTP transport layer protocol came into existence along with the SIGTRAN protocols (or SS7 over IP) like M3UA and M2PA.

What are the benefits?

There are two options using which a Bulk SMS operator can send SMS traffic:

1. Use SMPP to connect to the Mobile Operator network and send SMS,
2. Use SIGTRAN (or SS7 over IP) connectivity to the Mobile Operator network and send SMS

Both the options offer their own benefits and shortcomings. Generally, SMPP connectivity offers simplicity and easy to manage cheap solutions. On the other hand, SIGTRAN is a telecom grade protocol suite for high volume of signaling transactions that adds certain level of complexity to configure it. This also means that equipment like SMSC is required to be setup to directly connect with the MNO to send/receive the SMS traffic.

Comparing the two options, if there are possibilities to have direct signaling connectivity with the Mobile Network Operator (MNO) over IP (SIGTRAN), then, SIGTRAN connectivity is a better choice over the SMPP connectivity for high volume SMS traffic. However, as discussed earlier, complex and expensive telecom solutions like SMSC may be required to achieve the direct connection with the MNO network.

The “SMPP to SIGTRAN Gateway” solution is an alternate to the SMSC, where bulk SMS operators can continue to use their existing SMPP platforms and with the help of “SMPP to SIGTRAN” Gateway solution, they can connect to the MNO network using SIGTRAN (SS7 over IP) signaling. Therefore, for a Bulk-SMS operator who has an existing SMPP platform and wants to connect to the MNO using SIGTRAN connectivity, the most suited option is to implement a “SMPP to SIGTRAN Gateway” solution. The “SMPP to SIGTRAN Gateway” or “SMPP to SIGTRAN Converter” solution allows the SMPP Platforms to connect using SMPP as they connect to any other SMSC for sending SMS traffic. In addition, it is a light-weight solution that has a small footprint and it can be implemented over virtualized environment as well.

The complexity of SS7 signaling is hidden within the “SMPP to SIGTRAN Gateway” solution as it converts the SMPP signaling into SS7/SIGTRAN signaling and sends 3gpp MAP messages to the MNO. On the other side, it also converts the SS7/SIGTRAN or 3gpp MAP signaling messages into SMPP messages.

Following figure shows the A2P SMS case. This call flow is the most common among all the SMS call flows. It is estimated that A2P SMS constitutes over 90% of the SMS traffic. Advertisement traffic, OTP traffic, financial transaction traffic, are all classified under this category. The “SMPP to SIGTRAN Gateway” plays the role of an SMSC in this particular case to facilitate the Mobile Terminated SMS Call flow towards the mobile subscriber.

Following figure shows the P2A traffic case. In this case the SMS traffic is initiated by a mobile subscriber directed towards a certain service that is accessible through SMS. For example, viewing bank balance, placing request for blocking/unblocking of Credit Card etc. Generally, this is a small part of the overall SMS traffic in the mobile network. However, in such a case, the “SMPP to SIGTRAN Gateway” solution plays the role of HLR and MSC to receive the incoming SMS messages. Both an MO-SMS or an MT-SMS are accepted in this case.

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