What is SMPP?
SMPP stands for Short Message Peer-to-Peer. It is a protocol that the telecommunications industry uses to send and exchange SMS messages between SMSCs (Short Message Service Centers), ESMEs (External Short Messaging Entities), and/or Routing Entities. The SMPP protocol is a level-7 TCP/IP protocol which enables a faster delivery speed for SMS messages.
SMPP is considered an industry-standard protocol for sending SMS messages to network providers and is, thus, used by many providers as their native protocol. Additionally, SMPP is at times used to allow third parties—such as value-added service providers—to submit text messages in bulk. SMPP can carry text messages that contain EMS (Enhanced Messaging Service), cell broadcasts, voicemail notifications as well as WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) messages and pushes. The latter is used for MMS delivery.
The telecommunications industry developed the SMPP protocol for a sole purpose—to specifically send SMS text messages to cell-phones using one-to-one or one-to-many models. SMPP uses a client-server model for its operations.