LINK Mobility SMS REST API

Contents

• Before you begin
• Scope of this document
• Capabilities of "Common" platform
• Terms and glossary
• Sending MT messages
• Authentication
• HTTP Methods, statuses, and actions
• Methods
• Error Result Codes
• Example
• Success Result
• Batch sending MT messages
• Quota
• Sending flash sms
• Scheduled delivery of MT messages
• Obfuscation
• Delivery Reports
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• Changelog of this document

Before you begin

Please make sure that Link Mobility Support has provided you with the following information:

• Username
• Password
• platformId
• platformPartnerId

If you will be receiving Delivery Reports for your messages, please provide Link Mobility Support with an URL and they will also give you a gateId to use. For more information on Delivery Reports, see the “Delivery Reports" chapter.

To use Delivery Reports, make sure you have made an opening in any firewalls so that Common can connect to you to transfer Delivery Reports. The addresses to open for are listed below.

Scope of this document

This document will describe the Application Programming Interface (API) to send text messages through the Link Mobility “Common” platform. It will also describe the mechanism for delivering, to your platform, Delivery Reports for each message sent. A separate document describes the API for receiving text messages.

Common is a REST API. This means it uses HTTP verbs to receive commands. A basic familiarity with REST APIs is assumed, as well as a familiarity with JSON.

Capabilities of "Common" platform

Common is a high-capacity, high-availability SMS Gateway designed to let you send and receive SMS Text messages, as well as receive a notification when the text message is received by the end-user.

A message can be free for the end-user to receive, or it can cost money. (Certain countries only). In certain markets, you can charge the end-users without actually sending them a message, so-called "Silent billing".

A message can be of any length up to the maximum defined by the GSM standard (254 segments).

It can contain any character in the UTF-8 2-byte character set. (Unicode 4-byte characters are not supported).

When sending free messages, the sender of the message can be set to any string of 2-11 characters, a-Z,0-9 (Must begin with a non-numeric character).

Common tracks the status of each message every step of the way until it is delivered to the end-user's handset, and will provide you with this status through a Delivery Report. Delivery Reports can be sent in JSON, HTTP GET or POST formats.

Terms and glossary

Size limits

An SMS Text message can be a maximum of 140 bytes. With the most common character encoding, GSM-7, this translates to 160 characters. If your message is longer than 140 bytes, it must be split into multiple messages, and preceded by a header signifying that it is a multipart message. Common can handle this splitting, concatenation, and the overhead unless you want to do it yourself.

MT

Mobile Terminated. Refers to any SMS message which is sent to a mobile phone. (The message is terminated, or “ends”, at the phone.)

MO

Mobile Originated. Refers to any SMS message which is sent from a mobile phone. (The message's origin, or beginning, is at the phone.)

Charged, Premium

An MT message can cost money for the end-user to receive. This is usually referred to as a charged message or premium message. If you are going to send charged messages to end-users, please review the rules and regulations for your country. Charged messages are only available in some countries and shortcodes. In certain markets, you can charge the end-users without actually sending them a message, so-called "Silent billing". Support will be happy to advise you if you are in doubt.

Bulk

A message which does not cost money for the end-user to receive. Bulk messages can set their Source (the “From”-field) of the message to any text, 2-11 characters a-Z. Using this feature to impersonate other parties will lead to a termination of your account.

Delivery Report

For each MT message we send, we can send you an acknowledgement when the message is confirmed received by the end-user's handset. If the message fails for any reason, we will inform you about this. Delivery reports are mandatory for charged messages, optional for bulk.

TON

Type of Number. This identifies how systems shall interpret your Source (your “From”-field). It can be a Shortcode, an alphanumeric string, or a phone number (MSISDN). Same applies for the Destination, or recipient, of the message, though destination will almost always be an MSISDN.

KeyValue

Map with string key and string value where you may specify unique parameters.

Character Encoding

All communication to and from Common will be using UTF-8 encoding.

Sending MT messages

Base URL:s

You will get one of these URL:s assigned to you when your account is created:

Authentication

There are two ways of doing authentication: OAuth 2.0 or Basic Authentication.

OAuth 2.0

The preferred way of authentication is using OAuth 2.0. It requires the client to obtain a token to be used in other requests.

The only grant type currently supported is “client_credentials” where the “client_id” is the username and “client_secret” is the password provided by Support.

This would be posted to the access token URL as:

POST /auth/token
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
grant_type=client_credentials&client_id=user&client_secret=secret

Successful result with HTTP status 200:

{"access_token":"tokenxxx","token_type":"Bearer","expires_in":3599}

The access_token value should be used as a header in requests to be used for authorization:

Authorization: Bearer tokenxxx

The max age for a token is specified in the expires_in field in seconds.

Unsuccessful results will return a different HTTP status than 200 and the body will contain an error parameter in a JSON object with any of the following results: invalid_request, unsupported_grant_type, invalid_client or internal_error.

Basic Authentication

Authenticate in the HTTP request using Basic Authentication with the username and password provided by Support.

HTTP Methods, statuses, and actions

Methods

POST/sms/send

Submits a message object for delivery to a mobile phone. Set Content-Type: application/json in your request header and POST a JSON object with the following properties:

DCS

Data Coding Scheme sets the encoding used for the message. Default and recommended is TEXT.

ΤΟΝ

TON stands for Type of Number and designates how a number is to be interpreted.

Priority

It gives the sending a certain priority.

Error Result Codes

Example

In this example, the platformId and platformPartnerId and deliveryReportGates are set to invalid values. The values that are correct for you will be provided by Support.

A minimal example, including only required fields. This would send the message "Hello world" to the Norwegian phone number +4799999999, and not use a delivery report. The sender is set to "LINK".

This JSON would be POSTed to https://[your assigned URL]/sms/send

{
  "source": "LINK",
  "destination": "+4799999999",
  "userData": "Hello world",
  "platformId": "0",
  "platformPartnerId": "0",
  "useDeliveryReport": false
}

Success Result

On a successful request, Common will reply with HTTP 200 OK, or HTTP 204 No Content if "ignoreResponse” is set to TRUE. In the body you will find the messageId of the message:

{
  "messageId":"Dcshuhod0PMAAAFQ+/PbnR3x",
  "resultCode":1005,
  "description":"Queued"
}

If the customParameter "replySmsCount" with the case insensitive String value "true" is found in the sending request, then the reply will have an extra parameter called “smsCount" that has an integer value, it shows the amount of message parts or SMS sent per Send RequestMessage.

{
  "messageId":"DcshuhodØPMAAAFQ+/PbnR3x",
  "resultCode":1005,
  "message": "Queued",
  "smsCount":1
}

If there's an invalid value or the case insensitive String value "false", then the "smsCount" parameter wouldn't be shown. The returned smsCount is a preliminary value, an estimation, of message parts and the final smsCount will be found in the delivery report. Please note that this is not a delivery report. Save the messageId; when the delivery report arrives, it will include the same messageId.

Batch sending MT messages

If you want to send many messages at one time, you can use the Batch Sender to send multiple messages at once, reducing connection overhead. You will receive an array of responses when you submit, with the messageId and refId of each message posted.

Sending a batch MT message is similar to sending a single MT message, except that certain parameters are moved into a sendRequestMessages parameter, which you then post an array of.

The names and types and functions of all parameters except sendRequestMessages are the same as if you were sending a single MT message. Delivery reports are handled normally.

The URL for submitting batch messages is https://[your assigned URL]/sms/sendbatch

batchSendRequest

sendRequestMessage

productCategory values

Product categories defined by Link Mobility:

Strex productCategory values

The list of valid Strex business models: Strex Payment, Transport, Donation, Media, Information Services, Automatic Number Directory Service, Mobile Content Services, Mobile Content Services 18+, Alert Services, Voting.

Note: Link CommonLayer product categories do not use these Strex business models: Media, Information Services, Automatic Number Directory Service, Alert Services.

Batch sending example

The following JSON would send a message to two recipients at the same time.

{
  "platformId": "0",
  "platformPartnerId": "0",
  "useDeliveryReport": true,
  "deliveryReportGates": [
    "BVldZyQt"
  ],
  "sendRequestMessages":[
    {
      "source": "2333",
      "sourceTON": "SHORTNUMBER",
      "destination": "+4746910822",
      "userData": "Hello world, first message",
      "refId": "wir7kkw"
    },
    {
      "source": "2333",
      "sourceTON": "SHORTNUMBER",
      "destination": "+4741560067",
      "userData": "Hello world, second message",
      "refId": "qts883r"
    }
  ]
}

Success Result

On a successful request, Common will reply with HTTP 200 OK, or HTTP 204 No Content if "ignoreResponse" is set to TRUE. In the body you will find an array of Json objects, every object is the result of every message sent, and the messageId of every message too:

[
  {
    "messageId": "QC5BGwiuYk0AAAFiQ08nTFOS",
    "refId": "myRefId",
    "resultCode": 1005,
    "message": "Queued"
  },
  {
    "messageId": "QC5BHHuqylsAAAFiQ08nX2ph",
    "refId": "myRefId",
    "resultCode": 1005,
    "message": "Queued"
  }
]

If the customParameter “replySmsCount” with the case insensitive String value “true” is found in the sending request, then the reply will have an extra parameter called “smsCount" that has an integer value, it shows the amount of message parts or SMS sent per Send RequestMessage in all the messages sent.

[
  {
    "messageId": "QC5BGwiuYk0AAAFiQ08nTFOS",
    "refId": "myRefId",
    "resultCode": 1005,
    "message": "Queued",
    "smsCount": 1
  },
  {
    "messageId": "QC5BHHuqylsAAAFiQ08nX2ph",
    "refId": "myRefId",
    "resultCode": 1005,
    "message": "Queued",
    "smsCount": 1
  }
]

If there's an invalid value or the case insensitive String value "false", then the "smsCount" parameter wouldn't be shown. Please note that this is not a delivery report. Save the messageId; when the delivery report arrives, it will include the same messageId.

Quota

Quota Overview

A quota defines the maximum number of SMS messages that can be sent within a specified time interval (such as per day, week, month, or indefinitely). Each quota is uniquely identified by a quotald (UUID) and is reset according to the customer's time zone. Quotas can be assigned at the country, region, or default level through a QuotaProfile. Quota can also be dynamically assigned using QuotaMapping. This maps a parentQuotald (UUID) and a unique quotaKey (e.g., sender or user) to a specific quotald.

A quota is set in accordance with your local support, your assigned account manager or by default if nothing is specified.

Status 106 – Quota Exceeded

An SMS message may be blocked with status code 106 ("quota exceeded") when:

• The message exceeds the defined limit for its corresponding quotald within the current interval.
• The destination country or region has no quota assigned (i.e., is explicitly blocked with a null quota mapping in the profile).
• There is no matching quota and no default quota is defined, resulting in rejection.

In these cases, the system prevents further message processing to enforce customer or destination-based limits and avoid misuse.

Sending flash sms

This is possible by just adding the customParameter “flash.sms" with the case insensitive String values “true” or “false” within the request object. The default value for this customParameter is "false".

Example within the object to POST in /sms/send/

{
  "source": "LINK",
  "destination": "+4799999999",
  "userData": "Hello world",
  "platformId": "0",
  "platformPartnerId": "0",
  "useDeliveryReport": false,
  "customParameters":{
    "flash.sms":"true"
  }
}

In the case of batch sendings, this value can be added within the batchSendRequest or within the SendRequestMessage. But if this customParameter is added within the batchSendRequest, then it will override its value for all the messages within this single batchSend Request.

Example 1

Here, all the messages will be sent as flash sms, even if the flash.sms customParameter is found with the value "false" within a sendRequestMessage:

{
  "platformId": "0",
  "platformPartnerId": "0",
  "useDeliveryReport": true,
  "deliveryReportGates": [
    "BVldZyQt"
  ],
  "customParameters":{
    "flash.sms":"true"
  },
  "sendRequestMessages":[
    {
      "source": "2333",
      "sourceTON": "SHORTNUMBER",
      "destination": "+4746910822",
      "userData": "Hello world, first message",
      "refId": "wir7kkw"
    },
    {
      "source": "2333",
      "sourceTON": "SHORTNUMBER",
      "destination": "+4741560067",
      "userData": "Hello world, second message",
      "refId": "qts883r"
    }
  ]
}

Example 2

Here, the first message will be sent as a flash SMS, meanwhile the second one and the third one will be sent as normal SMS. This will work if the customParameter "flash.sms" is absent in the batchSendRequest.

{
  "platformId": "0",
  "platformPartnerId": "0",
  "useDeliveryReport": true,
  "deliveryReportGates": [
    "BV1dZyQt"
  ],
  "sendRequestMessages": [
    {
      "source": "2333",
      "sourceTON": "SHORTNUMBER",
      "destination": "+4746910822",
      "userData": "Hello world, first message",
      "refId": "wir7kkw",
      "customParameters":{
        "flash.sms":"true"
      }
    },
    {
      "source": "2333",
      "sourceTON": "SHORTNUMBER",
      "destination": "+4741560067",
      "userData": "Hello world, second message",
      "refId": "qts883r",
      "customParameters":{
        "flash.sms":"false"
      }
    },
    {
      "source": "2333",
      "sourceTON": "SHORTNUMBER",
      "destination": "+4741560096",
      "userData": "Hello world, third message",
      "refId": "qts847r"
    }
  ]
}

Scheduled delivery of MT messages

Messages may be scheduled for a later delivery but at most 3 months in the future.

Add the custom parameter “scheduledTime” with the value as the date that the message should be sent. The date should be formatted according to RFC3339.

Example

{
  "source": "LINK",
  "destination": "+4799999999",
  "userData": "Hello world",
  "platformId": "0",
  "platformPartnerId": "0",
  "useDeliveryReport": false,
  "customParameters": {
    "scheduledTime":"2017-06-07T15:30:00Z"
  }
}

Obfuscation

To use obfuscation, you need to add one of these customParameters on the request object, depending on the need:

Please be aware that when you use the obfuscate function, you are not able to search in message logs for destination number or message content.

Obfuscation Example

Example for "obfuscate.userData"

"customParameters" : {
  "obfuscate.userData" : "true"
}

Example for "obfuscate"

"customParameters" : {
  "obfuscate" : "true"
}

Delivery Reports

When an MT message is delivered to a handset, or fails for any reason, you will receive a callback with a delivery report. This is required for charged messages, optional (but recommended) for free messages. If the message is multi-part message, then it will get a delivery report for each part. It can be sent in JSON, XML, or HTTP GET/POST key/value pairs. If you want to change your format or your URL, please contact Support.

Common requires that your receiver responds with a HTTP status of 200 OK to acknowledge receipt of the delivery report. For added reliance, Common can also require that your receiver responds with a certain string in the body as well; this is optional. If you want this, please contact Support and they will enable it on your Gate.

Delivery reports will be POSTed to your service from the following IPs, please make sure there is an opening in your firewall for the hosts listed in the Appendix 1 in this document.

Delivery reports contain the following fields:

Result Codes

*BILLED, NOT BILLED & UNKNOWN BILLING Transaction state indicates the state when sending premium SMS.

The most common result code is 1001 Delivered. This code indicates a successful delivery (and payment, if charged) of the message. Most statuses are final, indicating that the message either has been successfully delivered, or failed in a non-recoverable way.

Delivery Report Example

The following example is an example of a successfully delivered message. refld and id have been set to invalid values in this example.

{
  "refId": "0",
  "id": "0",
  "operator": "no.telenor",
  "sentTimestamp": "2015-11-19T09:37:35Z",
  "timestamp": "2015-11-19T09:37:00Z",
  "resultCode": 1001,
  "operatorResultCode": "2",
  "segments": 1,
  "gateCustomParameters":{},
  "customParameters": {
    "received": "2015-11-19 10:37:36",
    "source": "2333",
    "destination": "+4746910822"
  }
}

The following example is an example of a message which was attempted sent to a phone number which does not exist. refld and id have again been set to invalid values in this example.

{
  "refId": "0",
  "id": "0",
  "operator": null,
  "sentTimestamp": "2015-11-19T10:17:37Z",
  "timestamp": "2015-11-19T10:17:37Z",
  "resultCode": 2106,
  "operatorResultCode": null,
  "segments": 1,
  "gateCustomParameters":{},
  "customParameters": {
    "received": "2015-11-19 11:17:37",
    "source": "2333",
    "destination": "+4746910823"
  }
}

Appendix 1

The following hosts are currently used for outgoing messaging.

Appendix 2

Silent Billing

To perform a Silent Billing (billing the end-user without them receiving a text message on their phone) set the customParameter "chargeOnly" to "true" (the string "true", not the Boolean true). Silent billing is only available in certain markets and is bound by additional agreements and restrictions. Your sales associate or Support will advise you if you are in doubt.

Examples

The following example shows how to send a premium (charged) message. The following message would cost 1 NOK for the end-user to receive. It is sent from Norwegian shortcode 2333 to Norwegian phonenumber 41560067 (country code +47). The delivery report is delivered to a predetermined gateld. (Delivery reports are required for charged messages. Only ΤΟΝ "SHORTNUMBER” is accepted for charged messages.)

{
  "source": "2333",
  "sourceTON": "SHORTNUMBER",
  "destination": "+4741560067",
  "userData": "This message costs 1 NOK to receive.",
  "tariff": 100,
  "currency": "NOK",
  "platformId": "0",
  "platformPartnerId": "0",
  "refId": "9ui5kKL",
  "productDescription": "Informational message from 2333",
  "productCategory": 15,
  "useDeliveryReport": true,
  "deliveryReportGates": [
    "0"
  ]
}

Norway (Strex) only

You must also set the customParameter "authorize" to "true", and "strex.username" to your company's Strex MerchantID. On the FIRST time you bill an end-user silently, you must also set the customParameter "strex.securityLevel" to 2. On the second and subsequent requests, this parameter should not be present.

Appendix 3

Supported TLS versions

From 2020-11-15 will TLS 1.2 or higher be required for all HTTPS connections.

Support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1 will be discontinued. Versions 1.0 and 1.1 of TLS are older protocols that have been deprecated and are considered as security risks in the Internet community.

LINK strongly recommend using HTTPS if HTTP is being used today. HTTP is deprecated as of 2020-09-01 by LINK and will be removed in the future. Date for HTTP removal is not yet decided.

Changelog of this document