NZ Approval and Activation Procedure : 5 - 6 weeks

Obtaining a Shortcode: 1 week

Common Short Codes are managed independently by the carriers. The availability of shortcodes is checked against their most recent records which may take a day or so.

Availability, at this point in the process, does not indicate that the number will be assigned to you and you can not reserve them until your completed application is submitted and payment received.


Carrier Approval Process : 2-3 weeks

All carriers have the right to approve or reject any short code campaign for any reason.


Bulletin will handle the carrier approval process for you. Each carrier follows its own procedure and has its own form that needs to be filled out. In order to simplify the process, Bulletin has created an aggregated form that combines all of the questions of all carriers. You will need to complete the form and email it to us. We will create the carrier specific forms and it submit them via email or online interface. Carriers take approximately 2-3 weeks to approve. If carriers have questions or reject the campaign, the process will take longer. Therefore, it is critical that the form is filled out in accordance with the guidelines of this document to ensure that your campaign approval does not get delayed.


Carrier Activation Process : 1-2 weeks

Once the carrier notifies us of their approval, they will proceed to activate the short code on their network. This process roughly takes 7 business days. Once the short code is activated it is ready for testing.

At this point the code is available for publication.


Carrier Outpayment Process

Carriers typically pay us between 30 an 90 days after the end of the month. We will pay you within 15 days of receiving any carrier payment. Example: you can expect to be paid on traffic you generated in the month of January between mid April (75 days) and mid May (105 days).


Bulletin will provide you with 2 separate reports. The first report is generated at the end of each month and will contain the summary of messages sent per carrier according to Bulletins internal statistics.

The second report is generated as soon as we receive the carrier payment and will contain the summary of outpayments by carrier based on their statistics.


The Bulletin report will give you some idea of what to expect. However, only the carrier statistics will be used towards calculating the actual outpayments that you are entitled to. There can be a significant difference between the two numbers because carriers have the right to deduct bad debt, uncollectible revenue, charge backs, etc. On average the difference between the two reports is mostly less than 10%. If there is a discrepancy of more than 10% and the monetary value of such discrepancy is higher than $500, we will immediately escalate the issue to the carrier for further investigation.


Premium Messaging Definitions and Interpretations


Team

Definition
Advertising Standards Authority
Means the Advertising Standards Authority Incorporated of New Zealand. For more information refer to www.asa.co.nz.
Advice Services
Means a Premium Messaging Service which offers advice to Customers using Messages as a medium.
Age Restricted Services
Means a Premium Messaging Service which may include the provision of Restricted Content.
Business Hours
Means 9.00am to 5.00pm on Working Days.
Carrier
Means an entity that operates a public switched telephone network (or a functionally equivalent system) that originates, transits or terminates calls; and/or a public data network.
Chat Bots Means computer-generated responses sent to chat participants. These responses are sent without human operation interaction.
Chat Service Means a Premium Messaging Service which enables Customers to engage in live anonymous conversation by sending and receiving Messages to either another Customer or an employee of that Premium Messaging Service.
Contact and Dating Services Means a Premium Messaging Service which enables persons who were previously unacquainted with each other to make initial contact and arrange to meet in person or otherwise continue to have contact with one another outside the Premium Messaging Service if they wish to do so.
Content Provider Means the party who has a contractual relationship with a Content Service Provider or Telecommunications Service Provider, in order to provide mobile content/Messages to the Customer.
Content Service Provider Means any person that has a contractual relationship with a Telecommunications Service Provider in order to deliver Premium Messaging Services or content/Messages to the Customer.
Customer Means a person who:
  1. Elects to receive Premium Messaging Services from a Content Service Provider and/or Content Provider; 
  2. Has a bona fide billing relationship with a Telecommunications Service Provider; and 
  3. Is invoiced by that Telecommunications Service Provider for those Premium Messaging Services.
Delivery Failure Reason Has the meaning defined in section 12 (of the TCF Premium Messaging Code).
Expenditure Means the amount paid by the Customer to receive the Premium Messaging Service and excludes any amounts paid by the Customer for other products or services associated with the use of the Premium Messaging Service. For example the parking charge associated with a txt-to-park service is excluded.
IVR (or Interactive Voice Response) Means a recorded message service which gives factual information about a particular Premium Messaging Service.
Message Means an SMS, MMS and/or WAP.
MMS (or Multimedia Message Service) Means a message which could be text, graphic, video or sound files sent to and/or from a mobile phone.
MO (Mobile Originated) Message Means a Message sent from the Customer's mobile handset.
Month Means a calendar month.
MT (Mobile Terminated) Message Means a Message received by the Customer's mobile handset.
Non Subscription Service Means a Premium Messaging Service other than a Subscription Service.
Non-Working Day Means any day other than a Working Day.
Parties to this Code Means a Carrier, Telecommunications Service Provider, Content Service Provider or Content Provider who has agreed to be bound by this Code.
Person Means a legal person and includes a company and any other legal entity.
Premium Messaging Service Means a Subscription or Non-Subscription Service provided via a mobile handset where the Customer is charged a rate above the basic Carriage Charge.
Restricted Content Has the meaning set out in the TCF Mobile Content Code.
Shortcode Means a number provisioned by Carriers to enable the charging of premium rates for Premium Messaging Services, and includes MSISDNs.
SMS (or Short Message Service) Means a short text messages sent to and/or from a mobile phone.
Subscription Service Means a Premium Messaging Service which offers multiple content, initiated by a sign-on process, including both recurring Premium Messaging Services billed at regular intervals and also Premium Messaging Services that are billed with content delivery.
TCF Telecommunications Carriers' Forum Incorporated Society of New Zealand. For more information refer to www.tcf.org.nz.
TCF Mobile Content Code Means the TCF New Zealand Code of Practice for Provision of content via Mobile Phones. For further information refer to the TCF website: www.tcf.org.nz. 
Telecommunications Dispute Resolution Scheme Means the Customer Complaints Code and Scheme Terms of Reference developed by the TCF. For further information refer to the TCF website: www.tcf.org.nz/tdrs. 
Telecommunications Service  Means any good, service, equipment and/or facility that enables or facilitates telecommunication. 
Telecommunications Service Provider  Means any person providing a Telecommunication Service to a Customer who has the billing relationship with that Customer to charge them for any chargeable activity relating to the provision of the Premium Messaging Service. 
TollFree Number Means a telephone number beginning with the digits 0800 or 0508 used for calls originating in New Zealand where the calls are free to the caller. 
Video Service  Means a Premium Messaging Service that provides streaming video, audio and other multimedia content to mobile handsets. 
Virtual Chat Services  Means a Chat Service which is not real time and enables two or more Customers to exchange Messages. 
WAP (or Wireless Application Protocol) Means a protocol that allows the sending of content and information to mobile handsets. 
Week  Means Monday to Sunday (inclusive). 
Working Day Means a day on which registered banks are open for normal banking business, excluding Saturdays, Sundays and nationwide public holidays. Regional public holidays are considered to be Working Days.