NOTE: This article was updated with an addendum and additional data.
Inspired by Michael Benedict's original blog post on monitoring SMS delivery reliability in Tanzania and recent reports of SMS keyword blocking in Uganda, MobileActive.org set out to replicate Michael's work - and add to it. SMS is such a crucial part of many mobile projects and just day-to-day life across the developing world, yet there’s a lack of public knowledge of mobile network operator interdependency, latency, and reliability (how mobile network operators work together to transmit SMS, the lag time between sending and receiving a message, and the guarantee that a message will reach its recipient).
Michael's post got us thinking: Can this type of experiment be replicated without extra hardware required (GPRS modems, etc.)? After a few quick brainstorming sessions at the OpenMobile Lab in New York, we created an alpha version of a mobile application that recreates a number of latency tests. It’s far from perfect - and there is still plenty of work to be done - but we’re confident that this project will lead us to extremely valuable data about the transparency and reliability of SMS on mobile networks.
SMSTester - The App
SMSTester is a simple Android app that allows a user create a set of keywords to be sent as SMS messages. This allows the user to explore differences in latency for any type of message - from basic, everyday text like ‘milk’ or ‘newspaper’ to politically inflammatory text such as ‘revolution.’ We then set up a logging mechanism to timestamp and record each SMS as it is sent (from the sender side) or received (on the receipt side). By comparing the sent and received timestamps, we’re very easily able to calculate message latency from one SIM to another.
Initial Deployment
We deployed SMSTester in a test in Egypt a few weeks ago. As this was the initial trial for a fully untested application, we were careful. While we did run our tests across a number of local mobile operator networks, we kept the test volume small enough to keep us under the radar (for now!). Our test methodology included:
Testing across all three major mobile operator networks in Egypt: Etisalat, Mobinil, and Vodafone
Consistent keyword test bed containing both ‘safe’ and ‘political’ terms, where ‘safe’ refers to everyday vocabulary and ‘political’ refers to politically sensitive words
Language coverage across both English and Arabic
Roughly 270 messages successfully sent, received and analyzed
What We Looked For And Why
The main focus of our analysis was SMS delivery latency, delay, or more generally, delivery failures. There are plenty of anecdotal stories of seemingly random delays lasting multiple hours or even days in many countries where we work. While network congestion and growing infrastructure are often to blame for SMS unreliability, there are also legitimate concern that delays may be an indication of deliberate message filtering and monitoring. What has emerged is an environment in which activists and human rights defenders are unable to clearly understand what networks - and what behavior - is safe or hazardous for themselves or their contacts. The end goal of this research, put simply, is to change this paradigm. Rumors of keyword filtering are not helpful; what is helpful is any evidence of surveillance.
This small experiment is just a start, of course. Our hypothesis is that keyword filtering and other malicious behavior on the part of mobile network operators may manifest in the form of increased message latency or overt message blockage. If we could detect any sign of a correlation between message content and delivery with just some initial testing in-country, this would be a great first step towards our overall goal. However it’s very important to note that while message latency or failure may be indicative of bad behavior on the part of the carries, it could be due to any number of contributing factors and is by no means an implication of foul play. For now we’re merely hypothesizing.
Results
Despite the minor bugs discovered, we gathered very valuable information about message latency in Egypt during this trial. The most valuable data was on the Etisalat network (also known as the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation), based in the UAE. The majority of the data we recovered from this trial was between an Etisalat SIM and other Egyptian networks. (Note: This was the result of inadvertent data loss for other test scenarios and we did not specifically target Etisalat).
Main Conclusions
Big Caveat (READ THIS!):Given the small sample size of this test, it should be noted that none of these conclusions are definitive. In fact, the very nature of such a small sample size warrants much further investigation.
(1) Delivery between Etisalat & Mobinil networks warrants further investigation. As shown below, the delivery time for English language text messages from Etisalat to Mobinil is significantly greater than delivery time to any other network, for both English and Arabic texts. This may be due to any number of network delays, and it may also be indicative of English language filtering by one or both of the mobile network operators.
(2) Delivery time of politically sensitive English messages on Etisalat warrants further investigation. The chart below shows that politically sensitive English messages sent across the Etisalat network were delivered with significantly more latency than others, with the possible exception of politically sensitive Arabic messages. In addition, each of the three messages that were delivered out of order fell into this category. Similar to the above conclusion, this may be indicative of specific filtering on behalf of Etisalat.
Today's Mobile Minute features mobile app revenue, context around ICTs and revolutions in the Middle East, an infographic of the top mobile operating systems around the world, new funds for telecommunications in Iraq, and malware in the Android app store.
A new report from Forrester Research estimates that revenue from mobile apps will reach $38 billion by 2015. The New York Times looks at the data from the report and examines what it means for the future growth of the app market.
Recent events in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya have been on the minds -- and on the screens -- of people around the world.
News organizations are covering the events in innovative ways, and people have noticed. More generally, the role of social media itself in protests and revolutions is also being debated. But, as Charlie Beckett writes on his blog, let’s “put aside the silly debate about whether Twitter 'caused' revolution and look instead at how it helped tell the story.” Twitter is just one platform being used to help tell the story, as we see from our conversation with Al Jazeera, one of the most innovative newsrooms in the mix.
Today's Mobile Minute brings you coverage on how the Egyptian government shut down the country's Internet and mobile services, work-arounds for communicating during a government-ordered Internet blackout, problems with keeping customers engaged in mobile banking and payment services, Android's new place as the top-selling mobile operating system in the world, and a prediction for huge increases in mobile data traffic by 2015.
In the aftermath of the Egyptian telecommunications blackout, ArsTechnica looked at both how the Egyptian government managed to limit the country's communications so effectively (mainly through ordering major ISPs and Telcos to shut off service) and if a government-mandated Internet/mobile lockdown could be recreated in other countries. In related news, Wired.com has created a wiki on how to communicate if the government limits/shuts down Internet access.
Vodafone announced that the Egyptian government invoked emergency powers and forced it and the other telcom providers in Egypt to send pro-government text messages to Egyptian subscribers. In a press release, Vodafone claims that the messages were not scripted by Vodafone, and that although they protested the government's involvement, they "do not have the ability to respond to the authorities on their content." Since then, a much-nedeed debate has begun on the responsibility of telcoms to resist this interference.
Developing Mobile Money Ecosystems data sheet 1095 Views
Author:
Beth Jenkins
Publication Type:
Report/White paper
Publication Date:
Jan 2008
Abstract:
The paper gives an overview of the players in mobile payment schemes and their respective roles in advancing mobile payment and banking in developing countries.
This video about women's rights is one of three mobile phone videos made by Egyptian artist Ahmad Sherif, designed to be spread virally on mobile phones.
The text, translated into English, says
Muslim? Great. Christian? Perfect. Jewish? Shalom. Veil? Why not. Niqab? Be my guest. No Niqab? Your choice. Atheist? Whatever. You're ready to die for God? It's your life. You would die for Adel Imam? Who wouldn't...
A video circulated on Egyptian mobile phones begins with a picture of a couple holding hands. Images follow of condoms, birth control pills, and even the mouths of a man and woman kissing. "Love: so what?" reads the text. "Love before marriage isn't a shame. Egypt, start loving."
The video is one of a set of three mobile phone videos made by Egyptian artist Ahmad Sherif, designed to be spread virally from mobile phone to mobile phone. The campaign, which started in 2007, aims to generate discussion of subjects that are considered taboo in Egyptian society. The other two videos deal with issues of free speech and women's rights.
