Romney joins Obama in receiving text message donations

The team of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney announced on Friday it is to start accepting donations by text.

The move is similar to a program launched last week by Democratic rival President Barack Obama.

With the rising success of text message in fundraising for disaster relief and other charity causes, texted political donations could prove to be a profitable resource ahead of the November 6 presidential election.

Text donations were first approved in early June and can be made anonymously. They are capped at $50 per month or $200 in total for a single candidate or campaign.

Donations cannot be made by foreigners, people under the age of 18 or corporations, which may imply corporate phone accounts.

Most U.S. phone companies support the plan including Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel Corp, U.S. Cellular and T-Mobile USA.

AT&T is still in the process of working on its contract agreements.

According to the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, the United States has more than 330 million wireless service subscribers with about three-quarters of those using text messaging.