<p>Mobile operators including those operating from Nigeria are set to lose $54 billion by 2016 in revenues that would normally accrue from short messaging service (SMS) to over the top (OTT) service popularly known as social messaging.</p><p>Already, all the global operators are set to lose $23 billion in SMS revenue by the end of 2012 alone.</p><p>A new study by Ovum, a leading global telecom research agency released yesterday revealed that OTT services such as Whats App, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), Facebook Messenger, Instant Messaging (IM) on Yahoo and Gmail were using 3G and Wi-Fi networks to transmit messages, rendering SMS messaging less relevant.</p><p>Chief Commercial Officer, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Wael Ammar, speaking at a recent NigeriaCom Conference and Expo held in Lagos, said OTT would continue to be a major force as long as subscribers continued to adopt low-end smartphones.</p><p><a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201210120828.html">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,16301411,00.html">Carriers react as social messaging kills SMS</a> (Deutsche Welle)</p><p><a href="http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/10/11/4328988/maximising-mobile-messaging-the.html">Maximising Mobile Messaging: The Dawn of a New Age and Opportunity for ...</a> (The Herald | HeraldOnline.com)</p><p><a href="http://www.billingworld.com/news/2012/10/operators-predicted-to-lose-54-billion-by-2016-to.aspx">Operators Predicted to Lose Big Bucks to Smartphone Messaging Apps</a> (Billing World)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dbiYVr-34sSMn0MB4YkFwfLUap1cM&ned=us">81 additional articles.</a></p>