At the end of a long winter “hibernation” with almost no news, we are happy to announce tons of good news, updates and improvements which will definitely increase your income and will open your business to much better possibilities.

Additionally, this winter has seen many changes on the Russian market which eventually led to yet another redistribution of the market among its key-players. We mean of course the constant battle with fraud activity on the part of the Russian mobile carriers which led to an immediate traffic drop amongst many aggregators, and the end of many affiliate programs whose work depended totally on the gaps used in technical and legal abilities of the mobile carriers. Our company did not publish any new whatsoever regarding this issue since we fully support these changes, as long as it is equally applies to the entire market. We wish to remind you that our company has always had strict requirements for the partners we work with, and is backed up with a strictly regulated contract and safety regulation – so we that we had nothing to publish on that part. In any case, we recommend to all of our partners to thoroughly check if their services indeed comply with our regulations.

As a consequence, the new situation on the Russian market has led many to think about taking their project development to other countries. It is worth mentioning that not only do our project offer a worldwide coverage but a unique rates and digital short codes in more than 50 countries. For particularly substantial projects we are willing to provide specifically profitable conditions.
As we have mentioned in the first paragraph, we have quite impressive amount of news, and much more to come which we will publish every few days on our website. To stay updated and be the first to find out what is new simply follow us on our Twitter where you will find a lot more interesting new which have not yet been published on our website.

Previously we have mentioned the test connection of Turkey and we are happy to announce that the testing period is over. Currently Turkey is available for each and every partner in accordance with previously signed agreement with company finance department. 10 rates worth of 2 up to 20 Turkish lira are now available in the country.
 

Lately there have been multiple changes regarding short codes used within our system. For the most part it has to do with new rates added. You will find the entire list of updates below.

• in Germany previous short code was completely changed for all rates and a new rate worth 2,99 Euro was added
• in Denmark, rates worth 50 and 60 DKK were added
• in Norway rates worth 10, 50 and 60 NOK were added
• in Sweden high rates were restored and these are now available as 10, 30, 50 and 80 SEK
• in Finland rates worth 3, 5 and 10 Euro were added
• in Bulgaria rate worth 2,40 BGN was added
• in South Africa short code was changed with previous rate worth 30 ZAR
• short codes in Great Britain are changed entirely, high rates worth of 5 and 10 GBP will be available to work during next couple of days.
• due to changes in short code system, short codes in Spain were changed as well as few new rates were added. Currently the highest SMS cost in Spain worth 6 Euro instead of previous 1.2 Euro.

We are happy to announce that the highest rate of ~250 rubles excluding VAT across Russia is currently available for all the major mobile carriers. Some time ago the latest of the mobile carriers' "major threesome", Megafon, added new rate of 254.24 rubles and it is now available based on short code 2474.

Rate scale was updated within our system automatically.

During the last week SmsCoin have supplemented the list of rates available with a few exclusive ones.

First and foremost, rates worth 3 and 5 Euro are now available in Austria. Besides that, brand new rate, worth 3 Euro is now operating in Germany, and in Netherlands — a minimal rate worth 55 cents is available.

Last but not least, we are happy to announce that we have resumed the acceptance of SMS-payments from Montenegro based on the following new short code 14941 with a 505 keyword.

As always, we ask you to update the rates scales located on your server to avoid the confusion in the instructions.

We would like to announce some important changes that took place in Belarus short codes systems. First, operation of the following short code 7250 was temporarily suspended; in case you are manually updating instructions on your website, please remember to remove this short code. Secondly, we have connected new short code in Belarus with SMS-message cost of 9900 Belarusian ruble excluding VAT.

To our partners' satisfaction, we are happy to announce the following: first, the ability to receive mobile payments from Hungary is now possible on all keywords available. Secondly, it is was renewed based on three different rates, the highest of which is equivalent of 10 USD.

Previous short code will soon be completely removed from the system regardless the keyword you are using. As usual, all the necessary details can be found in rates scales of your services and on our website as well - short codes in Hungary.

From 21:00 o'clock on September 27th till 21:00 o'clock on September 28th, 2009 (GMT+3) due to major religious fast Israeli mobile carriers will entirely suspend all mobile payments processing. We will totally disconnect mobile payment processing of SMS messages from Israel on our side. In case those who use your services will send SMS messages from Israel during that time, they will receive a reply message saying that the service is temporarily unavailable, and they won't be charged for these messages.

Starting from 06.09.09, commonly used keywords were restored across France, Austria and Macedonia. In order to restore the whole working process short codes were replaced in some cases, in other cases — keywords were replaced, a few previous short codes were disconnected and entirely new short codes were added, particularly a 3 Euros value short code in France. The complete set of changes is displayed on our website, as well as in individual rates scales for each and every one of your services. Prior to resuming payment acceptance in the above-mentioned countries, please update personal rates scales and make sure that the instructions on your websites are in accordance with the actual information.

In the upcoming period we plan to connect a few more brand new short codes in Austria, in addition to resuming the operation of commonly used keywords in Hungary and Montenegro.

We have not yet finished with the good news. Please note that short code valued in 10 Euros, became available at the end of the past week in Germany along with replacing the short codes on most of the previous rates. In Belgium, instead of recently disconnected short code, two entirely new short codes were connected with much more profitable revenue share for our partners. The maximum SMS-message cost in Belgium is now 4 Euros.

The above-mentioned changes also took place in Netherlands, where as of last week both new short code and keyword are operating, and in Slovakia, where new short codes and rates are available as well. Irrelevant short codes will soon be disconnected.

As usual, we ask you make sure that the instructions on your website are in total accordance with the information given in individual rates scales. Our company continues the hard work in order to improve the mobile payment platform across the European countries. Pay close attention to the news published on our website and please do not forget to update the rates scales on time!

As you already know, premium SMS-services across 54 countries abroad are connected to SmsCoin system. That means hundreds of short codes and rates in use which demand our constant and tireless support and up-close control. A month ago we have started an overall revision of the entire short codes available and used in our system, the ultimate goal of which is to create the most sustainable and profitable SMS-payment system outside of CIS borders. Revision clearly shows that different short codes operating in our system vary based on a level of stability, profitability and popularity. Thus, a month ago we have announced the disconnection of a few short codes which our partners did not use basically. Today we ask you to pay attention to the number of highly important changes within specific countries.

In Spain, Portugal and Czech Republic short codes were partially replaced, and in some cases the appropriate rates as well. Please note that at the moment the only short codes operating in these countries are these mentioned in your personal XML, as well as under rates section on our website. A few short codes were entirely disconnected either due to their instability or a lack of interest among the users in the rates offered under these short codes.

In Ireland, problems which a few of our partners regularly encountered in the past few months, were eliminated completely.

As a result of our review of working process politics with our partners within several Swedish countries, at the moment there is only one rate available, stability of which is guaranteed. In France, Austria, Hungry, Macedonia and Montenegro dam keyword was disconnected (i.e. for services which have individual keywords connected to it, these 5 countries are accessible). We would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused by the modifications made to our system, but we are certain in their necessity in order to achieve the desirable stability of the system in general. In the very near future the work process with these countries will be fully restored, and even more so, additional attractive rates will be connected in most of these countries.

Please stay in tune with our news and let us remind you once again: the complete work process is guaranteed only in case you are using actual short codes and keywords dictated in individual XML-files of your services.