GSM 7-bit chars as octets instead of septets means max GSM char length of 140, right?

Hi,

I'm fairly new to SMS and SMPP. I'm working with a SMPP client (I believe what is called and ESME) that connects to an aggregator (not quite a SMSC). The aggregator I'm working with doesn't support what I believe is called packed 7-bit GSM. In other words, the septets are actually sent as octets. Since the segment size is normally limited to 140 octets, wouldn't that mean the often quoted char limits for ASCII/GSM is not 160 but 140? Essentially the same limit as a 8-bit charset?