MO/MT — Mobile Originated / Mobile Terminated
What is MO/MT?
MO (mobile originated) and MT (mobile terminated) describe the direction a message or call travels relative to the mobile network: an MO message is sent FROM a handset (a customer texting in), while an MT message is sent TO a handset (a business notification or reply). The distinction matters because carriers commonly price, rate-limit, and route MO and MT traffic differently, and a platform's inbound webhook typically fires on MO, not MT.
More detail
Most A2P billing and throughput rules apply to MT traffic — the business-to-consumer direction — since that's the volume carriers actively police for spam and unregistered senders.
MO traffic (a reply, an inbound OTP confirmation, a support text) is what a messaging platform delivers to an application's inbound webhook, distinct from the outbound MT send path.
Frequently asked
- Which direction does a customer's reply travel — MO or MT?
- A customer's reply is MO (mobile originated) — it travels from their handset into the network — while the original outbound message they replied to was MT (mobile terminated), sent to their handset.
- Why does the MO/MT distinction matter for pricing?
- Carriers and messaging platforms commonly price and rate-limit MT (business-to-consumer) traffic differently from MO (consumer-to-business) traffic, since MT volume is what's policed for A2P registration and spam controls.
See also
Build it on Orbit
Voice, messaging, email, video, and AI agents on one platform and one pay-as-you-go bill. Start free — no credit card required.