No tweets by SMS in the UK

Twitter is no longer delivering tweets by outbound SMS in the UK.  This doesn't bother me, since I've never wanted to clutter my mobile phone with the kind of noise one generally gets on Twitter (don't get me wrong - I like the noise, I just don't want it to appear as text messages on my mobile phone).  But clearly this change will affect some users and there is already a Facebook group to protest about the change (primarily aimed at UK mobile operators rather than Twitter).  The announcement from Twitter suggest some alternatives for those (unlike me) with reasonably up to date phones.

What is interesting about the announcement is that it highlights a certain level of tension between mobile operators and services providers such as Twitter as well as the inconsistency of approaches to text messaging business models internationally (Twitter have reached business agreements with telecom companies in the US, Canada and India for example, and are continuing to try and do so in other countries).

Note that the change does not stop UK twits from sending tweets via SMS.