FINAL WORD
Medhat Karam is CEO for ARPUPLUS.
Rich Communication Suite
set to displace WhatsApp
Rich Communication Suite is positioned to replace
traditional text messaging with interoperability and
media sharing explains Medhat Karam at ARPUPLUS.
A
recent industry report from the
GSM Association, a trade body
that represents the interests of
mobile network operators worldwide,
has stated that the use of mobile devices
has grown three times over in the last
five years. The report further shows that
amidst this ever-increasing number of
mobile device users, text messaging still
stands out as the most preferred channel
to use in exchanging messages.
This solidifies the emergence of Rich
Communication Suite, a GSMA initiative
aiming to develop specifications for Rich
Communication Services, as a platform
designed to give an improved and
enhanced SMS-based experience while
also being presented as an attractive offer
to majority of today’s end users.
Industry analysts and experts have
pointed out that Rich Communication
Suite is the future of the mobile industry,
further backed by its advantages of
enhanced instant messaging, video calling
and the ability to share documents and
photos simultaneously during calls and
service discovery.
The emergence of this new SMS
messaging protocol has been dubbed as a
technological innovation that will change
the global mobile industry, allowing
users access to a less complex experience
that is successfully integrated with the
latest communication and multimedia
technologies. An example of strategic use
of Rich Communication Suite can be seen
across today’s airline industry wherein
companies can now send important
reminders to passengers like check-in
reminders, seat change options, baggage
Emergence of
this new SMS
messaging protocol
has been dubbed
as a technological
innovation that will
change the global
mobile industry.
allowances tips, all accompanied with
visual accompaniments to help get the
intended message across.
Rich Communication Suite is being
positioned to replace traditional text
messaging with its offer of interoperability
and media sharing capabilities. Best of all, it
has a conversational and group messaging
feature that was once only accessible
through social media messaging tools like
WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook Messenger.
The emergence of Rich Communication
Suite-led developments has widely been
received by the growing list of mobile
operators, which now allows them a highly
efficient and strategic solution to address
the demands from tech-savvy users
wanting to get more out of a standard
messaging system. In fact, a related GSM
Association report shows that 65% of
today’s smart and mobile device users
prefer to communicate with companies via
chat applications.
With this in mind, the entry of Rich
Communication Suite has allowed
industry experts to confidently forecast
that the estimated $60 billion SMS based
B2C market will grow to $74 billion in
the next four years, further backed by the
projection that Rich Communication Suite
monthly active users will climb to around
150 million by the end of Q3 2017 and 220
million by Q1 2018.
Moreover, the Rich Communication
Suite segment will continue to grow,
attributing the upsurge to the continuous
increase in mobile usage combined
with the demand for faster multimedia
communication systems that can
accelerate delivery times. The strong
presence of Rich Communication Suite will
also prompt the need to constantly develop
more up-to-date services and applications,
which in turn, can drive in more revenue
growth for international mobile operators
and other concerned entities.
Rich Communication Suite is
envisioned to make today’s mobile
phones a more powerful and essential
tool for our professional and personal
lives—opening a wide range of potential
opportunities for expansion and
significant developments.
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