Sending messages in mobile communication networks is a widely used and popular service. For example, mainstream messaging types in the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network are SMS (Short Message Service) and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) messages. Messages are typically sent and received with mobile terminals such as a mobile phone or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant). Mobile communication networks can also be used to send and receive other type of messages, including electronic mail messages, voice messages, video messages, picture messages and text messages. When a mobile terminal user sends a message to another mobile terminal user within a mobile network of the same network operator, the message is typically first delivered via a base station to a store-and-forward center of the mobile network. The store-and-forward center forwards the destination address of the message to a subscriber location database which then returns routing instructions of the message to the store-and-forward center. The message is then delivered according to the routing instructions to the recipient via a specific base station.
If the recipient is beyond the reach of the mobile network, the store-and-forward center stores the message. The store-and-forward center has a time limit for how long it will store the message and thus it is suitable for short-term storing only. Subscribers can usually specify a shorter time limit if they want. The subscriber location database informs the store-and-forward center when the recipient is reachable and then the store-and-forward center delivers the message to the recipient.
The situation is more complex when a sender and a recipient of a message are subscribers of mobile networks of different network operators. In this case a store-and-forward center of the transmitting mobile network forwards the destination address of the message to a subscriber location database of the receiving mobile network. The database returns routing instructions and then the message is delivered according to the routing instructions from the transmitting mobile network to the recipient through a specific base station of the receiving mobile network. Typically the network operator of the transmitting mobile network has to pay a so-called termination fee to the network operator of the receiving mobile network.
In this kind of communication arrangement, i.e. where mobile terminal users are subscribers of mobile networks of different network operators, a message cannot be stored, not even temporarily, in the mobile network of the network operator of the recipient. In addition, it is not possible to modify a message in the receiving mobile network, for example by adding information such as an advertisement to the message.