There’s still a cloud of uncertainty hovering over Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless’ on-again, off-again plans to begin charging aggregators, messaging companies and other partners 3 cents per SMS delivered on its network. And yet, plenty of companies are expecting the worst – which would see Verizon implement the new charge Nov. 1, which it clearly outlined in contract addendums with various affected companies last week. We’re told Verizon has been holding meetings with some of the companies that were caught off guard by the change last week. It’s too soon to tell whether fears have been adequately allayed or if Verizon is simply buying time. We recently caught up with Zaw Thet, CEO of 4INFO, to get his take on the snafu and how the fee increase might impact his company and so many others.

What’s your initial reaction to this change? Do you think it’s a negotiating tactic on Verizon’s part? “We’re really disappointed about it. It’s unfortunate that Verizon is trying to go down this path when companies like 4INFO have driven so much direct and related business to them over the past four plus years. I can’t speculate on what Verizon is thinking. There are several reasons why they may have chosen this approach, but since we’re in direct dialog with them it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment. Their revised statement (on Friday afternoon) was welcome news.”

If implemented, how will this new fee impact your business? “Verizon will make it difficult to continue to work with them in the same capacity that we currently do.”

Will you simply have to cut off services to the customers on any carriers charging these high fees? “We will certainly consider that alternative.”

Much more after the jump…

How can you adapt to make these new hits on revenue less painful or diminished? “4INFO’s reputation with customers and partners is built on the fact that we provide the best in quality content – from news to entertainment – to millions of U.S. customers. Because of that we have galvanized a large stable of committed publishing partners and advertisers who see that value and want to continue to reach this audience. While we are obviously disappointed about Verizon’s claims, our business can still thrive and deliver an outstanding service to consumers, publishers and advertisers whether Verizon decides to be a part of that value chain or not. We know our Verizon customers would be disappointed and we don’t want to deny our services to them, so we’re hoping Verizon will rethink this.”

What do other carriers charge currently for this? “We don’t discuss specifics of our business contracts, but we currently don’t pay any variable cost for messaging.”

Can you talk about how drastic of a change this is, compared to others in the industry? “Unprecedented and unnecessary – or thousands of companies wouldn’t have built businesses around it.”

What would you think is a reasonable fee for this, if any? “It’s reasonable to cover the costs of sending the message and the business overhead of working with aggregators. This proposal amounts to a double charge for premium SMS businesses, who already share revenue with Verizon on their content and now will need to pay extra as well.”

Is there concern that the other carriers will follow in suit if Verizon succeeds in charging this new fee? “We’re proud that partners like AT&T (NYSE: T), T-Mobile, Sprint (NYSE: S) and many other U.S. carriers continue to see the value that 4INFO and companies like ours bring to the whole mobile food chain, including the carriers. We have worked hard to build an entire industry of partners, providers and customers that trust this service and content, and rely on it every day. This brings extraordinary value to the carriers too as it builds the use of SMS by businesses and consumers in ways that the carriers themselves could not do.”

Finally, if the entire industry moves around this, how much more would that impact your bottom line? “We’ll send close to a 1B text messages this year, as well as drive millions of WAP page views from our SMS content. Any variable cost in this channel will have a severely negative impact on the whole mobile industry.”

• Verizon Backtracks On 3 Cent SMS Fee; It’s A ‘Proposal’ Up For ‘Discussion’
• Verizon Will Charge Companies 3 Cents Per Text Message Sent To Their Subscribers