Communication protocol refers to the protocols which were used to transmit information over the web. By using Transport protocols, applications from the different background can quickly communicate with each other without knowing the inside functioning of the various systems. HTTP (Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol) can be used to implement a SOAP message whereas FTP (File Transfer Protocol) can be used as the reliable transport mechanism. SMTP and BEEP can also be used for transport mechanism.

SOAP message is not tied to any protocol. It can use any of the open Transport protocol.