If you are looking at billing by SMS you need to seriously consider reading very carefully what is acceptable and what is not via your national premium service watchdog.
The reason i suggest this is because there are different SMS formats, advertising restrictions, etc that is involved in operating a reverse-billed SMS service and failure to comply with even one small part of the regulations can and is often finable with a hefty fine.
Here in the UK we are very strict with regards the procedures of what can and cannot be billed by SMS including how much can be billed to a customer (I believe the maximum is £5) and failure to this has regularly been known to result in £1000 - £100,000 fines (arround $2000 - $200,000 US Dollars).
As long as you investigate all the legal issues regarding what can and cannot be done. And also investigate how it applies to adult content (where i believe New Zealand allow Over 14's to access premium SMS content ) then it can be a very lucrative option.
The standard is that you will take approximately 55% of the SMS cost. So for example, if it charges the user $4 then you will make roughly $2.20 or so. In the UK the payouts on a £1.50 premium rate reverse billed SMS message is a 85p - 93p payout depending on number of messages your sending.
As to whether it is viable... I am not sure whether you are able to access a .co.uk website but
Lookitsme :: The Profile Site for Real Chatters!!... is a website similar to a dating one but focused more on Chat and Friends, who operate a SMS subscription method as well as regular payment methods.
As to who is best to go with. And if your very serious about operating it there are several companies that offer a variety of dedicated SMS based solutions. A quick look on Google for them may give you some companies offering them local to your region. I only know of Europe/USA companies.
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