The Mobile Marketing Association has released the latest version of its U.S. Consumer Best Practices Guidelines for Cross-Carrier Mobile Content Services, providing the first single reference for the mobile marketing ecosystem.

Updated regularly, the guidelines are the industry standard for cross-carrier mobile content services such as text messaging (SMS), multimedia messaging (MMS), short code programs, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and the mobile Web/WAP. The new version 4.0 guidelines are the first to consolidate the individual mobile marketing guidelines and codes of conduct -- known as "carrier playbooks" -- of the four largest U.S. wireless service providers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile USA.

"This points to the collaboration of the four major carriers and how they will work together to increase efficiency within the industry going forward," said Kristine Van Dillen, director of industry initiatives and partnerships for the MMA, New York. "They can now all see each other's playbooks, which is fundamental to what this industry needs in order to grow.

"All of the major players were involved, which is absolutely phenomenal, because now mobile content providers have one source to go to, instead of having to approach each carrier individually," she said. "We've made phenomenal progress when it comes to cross-carrier terminology, and it is absolutely critical to the wireless industry to standardize best practices.

"We see it as being step one of multiple steps of really trying to increase the efficiency of the mobile marketing ecosystem."

The MMA is a global nonprofit trade association established to lead the growth of mobile marketing and its associated technologies.

The MMA is designed to clear obstacles to market development, establish mobile media guidelines and best practices for sustainable growth and evangelize the use of the mobile channel.

The more than 700 member companies, representing over forty countries worldwide, include all areas of the mobile media ecosystem.

Originally announced in March 2009, the MMA claims that this industry-first agreement is a milestone toward the continued growth of mobile marketing and will achieve operational efficiencies for the industry upwards of $200 million annually.

Produced by the MMA's CBP Committee, the guidelines provide measures of acceptable and unacceptable practices for all players in the U.S. ecosystem.

At 100 pages, the new CBP document is significantly more comprehensive than the previous edition, yet it provides the industry with the first concise, inclusive set of guidelines by eliminating the need to refer to four separate carrier playbooks.

In addition to incorporating carrier standards, the new guidelines include revisions and additions to key areas such asstandardizing the language "Msg & Data Rates May Apply," allowing for more flexibility with PIN location in message-terminated (MT) messages and modifying the STOP requirement in opt-in MT messages.

The guidelines also feature a new reference ID system designed to make it easier to navigate the document and find information.

The guidelines help standardize practices across the industry, which provides a better experience for customers by ensuring the consistency of mobile marketing campaigns across the four major U.S. carriers.

The guidelines are available for download at http://www.mmaglobal.com/bestpractices.pdf.

In addition to AT&T, Sprint-Nextel, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, various MMA member companies participated in the CBP committee and collaborated in the development of the new guidelines.

These include Bango, BrightKite, Buongiorno, Cellfish Media, Fox Mobile Entertainment, LavaLife Mobile, mBlox, Mobile Messenger, MX Telecom, NeuStar, OpenMarket, Publicis NA, Sybase 365, Telescope Inc., Thumbplay, VeriSign and Yahoo.

The CBP is a guidepost and path to successfully launching and running mobile marketing campaigns.

"The CBP is a mechanism where the carriers can agree on a common set of guidelines that they'll all support for the most common mobile marketing activities that are applicable across all networks, such as standard opt-in and opt-out user flows for text alert programs," said iLoop Mobile's Michael Becker, global vice chairperson for the MMA.

"The more commonality the industry achieves with these guidelines, the easier it will be to execute programs, ensure compliance across all carriers and deliver value to consumers," he said.

"Carrier contributions to a common set of rules that are generally applicable across all networks are immensely valuable to the industry and will save time, money and stimulate overall industry health and growth."