The load in a cell or a cell sector is balanced in the process of sending store and forward messages to multiple recipients located in a single cell or cell sector. When one or more messages are sent over a wireless communication network to one or more recipient devices, information about the identity of the base station and cell sector serving the recipient device(s) is obtained. A current load for the cell or cell sector can also be obtained and used to control the number of simultaneous message transmissions to the cell sector to avoid overloading the sector. Message transmission may be allocated according to predetermined transmission rules for a cell sector or by dynamically allocating message transmission according to fluctuating traffic loads in the cell sector. Accordingly, a first subset of messages may be transmitted to a single recipient, or a single message may be transmitted to a subset of intended recipient devices. Thereafter, message transmission takes place incrementally without overloading the cell or cell sector.