RCS: WHY NOW?
The first mobile-phone text was tested in the UK in 1992. A year later, it was commercialized. Since then, SMS has been the most widely used non-voice communication channel for operators, marketers, and retailers. As data became cheaper and widely accessible during the last decade, we witnessed a rise in OTT applications such as WhatsApp, WeChat, and Facebook. While OTTs were gaining users, operators experienced a decrease in revenue from standard text and voice services. Several reasons led to the rise of OTTs, such as data calls, media sharing, network connectivity, group chat, and location-based services.
However, OTTs still lack ubiquity.
RCS: RICH COMMUNICATION SERVICES
RCS promises to enable all app-like functionalities within the end-users’ chat window and provides the best of WhatsApp, FB Messenger, and SMS, all within a single platform. RCS enables MNOs to send interactive campaigns by adding suggested replies and rich media cards, click-through buttons, and more.
WHAT’s DIFFERENT THIS TIME:
RCS has been around for a decade yet has never gained as much traction as this time. Tier 1 operators, technology giants, and vendors are pushing forward the next generation of the communication system for two main reasons.
First, operators across the globe are either planning or have already launched RCS based services. RCS works best on Android devices, and it is important to note that the Android OS makes up over 75% of the smartphone market globally. Apple is using its iMessage system.
Second, Ovum predicts that by 2022, global revenues from A2P messaging will total $43bn, while the A2P messaging traffic will be less than half of P2P messaging traffic by that time [1]. The explosive growth in A2P SMS traffic is generated because of the end-users’ expectation to receive SMS messages from different services, such as login credentials, delivery notifications, appointment reminders to bank notifications over messaging, and so on.
Along with these, many other use-cases will pave the way for RCS in the near future.
MARKET SIZE:
GSMA predicts that by 2020, over 120 operators globally will deploy RCS, amounting to approximately 850 million users monthly. Another study from Juniper Research suggested that revenues from RCS messaging will exceed $9 billion by 2022[2].
These figures are linked strongly to a few external factors:
o Technology Readiness: With over 3 Billion unique smartphone users,[3]a base level of technology that supports RCS natively on smartphones is an important factor for its fast growth.
o Cost: Just like OTTs, RCS should be free. The cost of sending SMS gave OTTs an opportunity in developing markets where smartphone adoption has been the fastest ever.
o Network effect: The decision to switch to RCS from SMS or OTTs will take place at a social group level for subscribers. Operators need to invest in targeted marketing campaigns explaining the benefits.
In a nutshell, RCS closes the gap between simple SMS and rich OTT messages, but it relies on acceptance from operators and users.
TOMIA’s Campaign Management solution with RCS will equip operators to:
· Trigger RCS Campaigns
· Collect Roamers’ campaign engagement data
· Analyze and report on campaign performance and more
Our intelligent solutions are built on fast, reliable, and flexible groundbreaking technologies, providing operators an ecosystem to increase and optimize revenue growth as well as subscriber satisfaction.
Contact us to learn more: marketing@tomiaglobal.com
[1] Ovum: A2P SMS traffic growth report[2] Juniper Research: study on RCS revenue
[3] GSMA Intelligence