Do cell phone companies lose money to 'pay to text' schemes?

Hi everybody…obligatory ‘long time lurker’ stuff, finally subscribing because if anybody can answer this, it would be you guys.

Basic information…I put my neice on my cell phone account with alltel. She was on unlimited texting, which was running me 20 dollars a month which I assume was mostly profit for alltel.

Last month she decided to text chat text lines, running my phone bill up. I called alltel, and they told me that the only way to stop her from doing that is to cut off her texting altogether, which I did.

My question is… Did the live flirt chat texting company, whoever they are, actually cost alltel the 20 dollars a month, and if so…Why are the cell phone companies permitting this? Can they refuse to allow it, or would this cost them even more from the angry people trying to vote for Sanjaya on their cell phones?

Anyone have any insight into how all this works?