RCS world domination? Not so fast

Now Apple is on board, RCS is predicted to explode. But, while it is certain to see strong growth, it isn’t there yet and, as Paul Skeldon points out, there are still some challenges and no. Having Apple on board certainly make the use case for businesses much stronger: now they can reach pretty much everyone. But there is more to RCS than that.

Rich communications service (RCS) business messaging traffic is set to explode in 2025. Now that RCS is built into Apple iOS, it is expected that businesses are going to embrace it with alacrity.

Research by the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF) finds that, in 2024, there was an average 4% increase in the number of users receiving RCS commercial messages across several countries. It found that India led with a 7% increase in RCS message adoption, followed by South Africa, Mexico and Spain with 3% each, and France with 2%. Brazil has an impressive 27% adoption rate for RCS, more than double that of South Africa’s 13%

On average, 15% of smartphone users in the surveyed markets now receive RCS messages. And Apple’s adoption is crucial to its continued growth. According to Juniper Research, RCS traffic will hit 50 billion messages across next year, almost double the 33 billion seen in 2024.

So, what is driving this growth –is it just Apple’s buy-in? Well, yes and no. Having Apple on board certainly make the use case for businesses much stronger: now they can reach pretty much everyone. But there is more to RCS than that.

According to Juniper Research, “basic RCS messages are plain-text messages containing no more than 160 characters, the same as an SMS message. However, basic RCS offers several advantages over brands and enterprises compared to SMS messages. This includes the brand-verification feature, which reassures customers that any message they receive is from the brand and is not a phishing attempt from a malicious source. In addition, the branding feature ensures that the brand is instantly recognisable, and this will improve brand image.”

It is these basic RCS messages that are likely to drive growth and, if adopted by operators who prioritise basic RCS over SMS, price parity will follow.

Beyond basic RCS, there is also the messaging platform’s ability

to offer conversational experiences and add in more richness – such as graphics, branding, multimedia content and even payments – that will really propel next generation interaction through RCS. It is this combination of basic RCS and the more expensive, but far richer, RCS that makes the offer so compelling. Consumer demand for more adventurous messaging that includes voice, video, AI and more (see page 27) is going to slowly shift the dial on what interactive business messaging is all about and RCS gives the foundation for that. The ability to tap into changing consumer habits, as well as using what RCS has to offer to further create user interest in richer messaging is win-win.

NOT A DONE DEAL

While these factors are big boons for RCS and will no doubt drive uptake, there are some caveats.

Apple may well have moved RCS from just an Android platform, but there are still going to be users who have devices too old or non-iOS-non-Android who can’t use it. There is also the need for a good internet connection, either with 3, 4 or 5G or strong wifi – and again not all consumers have access. Many users in developed markets don’t necessarily have broadband connectivity on their mobile all of the time – just speak to anyone from the UK. This will make regular use of RCS patchy and inconsistent. For those that do have good mobile data access, using RCS could well drive up their data usage, leading to bill shock and/ or slowing operator networks down – something that is already a problem in some markets, just speak to anyone from the UK. For operators, there are still inconsistencies in tracking RCS messages and the subsequent data that that can deliver. There is no centralised way to track RCS open rates and interaction, so working out the ROI on any project is hard.

So, while RCS is on the up – and SMS is on the way down (see page 28) – it may not be game over for other messaging platforms. OTT has a strong user base and a strong user case. And, while rich messaging may look good, is it always what is needed?

RCS in numbers

RCS has been keenly watched as it has slowly grown from a nice idea to actually being on the cusp of surpassing SMS as the messaging channel of choice. Here is how it has grown and changed.

• In 2023, Google reported over one billion monthly active users with RCS enabled

• The RCS messaging market is projected by Future Markets Insight to grow by 16% during 2022 to 2032 and is expected to reach a valuation of US$8.5bn by 2032.

• By the end of 2024, RCS is expected to have a cross-platform reach of approximately 2.5 billion monthly active users, says Omdia

• The United States is expected to account for the largest market valuation of US$ 3.1 Bn by the end of 2032