[Za-pm] HTTP requests from PERL

[jan at sportz.co.za]

I hope that someone can give me some advise or direct me to further information:

I am currently working on a MOD that will enable SMS (Short Message Services) from a PERL based portal solution. In the process I have to interrogate a SMSC (Short Message Service Center) Server of one of the local Mobile Operators for available credits, routing path etc. All this interrogation is done via normal HTTP requests/commands. My problem is that my knowledge of PERL and HTTP is not enough (yet), so I am having quite a tough time. If anybody can put me on the right track, then I will be grateful: 

When I send the command directly from a browser: http://mobile.net:5544/api/submission/credits/get_credit.mc?usr=XXXX&pass=XXXXX&msg_id=XXXXXX then the SMSC responds in the format CREDIT_COUNT<pipe>AVAILABLE_DAYS<pipe>REFERENCE for example: 200.2<pipe>25<pipe>FDH889H 

How do I execute this HTTP command from within my PERL code (without using a HTML form), and how do I capture the response from the SMSC in a variable? 

Any/all advice will be appreciated! 

Regards
Jan