A number of premium SMS codes have been set up in more than 20 countries around the world, including the US, UK, South Africa, Australia, Spain, Germany and many African nations.
People will be able to text their own message to their country-specific short code and will then receive a thank you message with a unique pin number, allowing them to view the message securely online at a specially created .
The site will also contain a raft of celebrity messages both written and filmed by Mandela supporters around the world.
The "Birthday wishes" campaign launched this week in most of the participating countries to coincide with Mandela's 90th birthday concert in Hyde Park on June 27.
The concert will be broadcast internationally on television, radio and online and will see a number of stars echoing the call to action to text a message.
The campaign will run until July 18, Mandela's actual birthday, culminating in a card being presented to him in South Africa noting the number of messages received.
The text service is being managed by Mandela's HIV/Aids global awareness campaign 46664, which was Mandela's prison number, and will be strategically live for 46,664 minutes.
All profits received from text charges will go to the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust and other charitable organisations supported by Mandela.
Tim Massey, 46664 international director, said: "A text-based service allows more people to feel part of the celebrations in a very simple way and we hope to raise significant revenues to support the ongoing work of the charities that bear Mr Mandela's name and 46664."
The text service system was built and managed by UK-based Mediadeck and has been enabled by SMS aggregators Sybase, MBlox and Digital Service Group in South Africa.
In the UK texts cost £1.50 plus the standard network rate.
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