Over the years, mobile messaging has undergone many changes and for a long time SMS (Short Messaging Service) was the system used by most people to stay in touch. With the advancement of technology and smartphones, applications such as WhatsApp, Line and Telegram gained followers and popularity, which caused SMS to become almost obsolete.
This is how, at the Mobile World Congress in 2016 and after several years of seeing how control over this type of messages was lost due to the rise of these applications, numerous operators around the world announced an agreement with Google and various manufacturers to implement the RCS standard or “Rich Communication Service”, a system that would be the successor to SMS.
But what exactly is this all about? The goal is for this communication protocol to be able to provide the same functions as instant messaging apps in the native messaging or SMS application of the cell phone. With this, it will no longer be necessary to download and install other applications to send images, videos, maps or voice notes, since these actions can be carried out from any mobile phone. On the other hand, operators and phone manufacturers will be able to create their own applications to use this technology, as well as third-party developers. All these applications that use the same standard will be compatible with each other and messages will be sent and received without problems from one to another. In addition to all this, users will also have the possibility of receiving payments and automating customer service.
As you can see, RCS offers improved communication that seeks to replace WhatsApp, because as mentioned, its main advantage is that it is a native service of the mobile network, so the mobile phone’s operating system and the operator will support it by default. An Internet or Wi-Fi connection will not be needed either, since just being connected to the telephone network will be enough. However, there is a negative point: the absence of end-to-end encryption, so messages will not have a layer of protection that prevents governments or operators from reading them.
And how will the charges for this service be? It is not yet clear, because if the charge is per message sent, as is the case with SMS, then the chances of success of this system are almost zero. It also depends on the operators, who could opt for message packages or tariffs. The lack of clarity in this regard is what has delayed the progress of RCS.
Currently, the system operates mainly in the US and Canada, with a limited presence in Europe. As for Latin America, it is still in development and, apparently, there is a long way to go to establish itself in the market.
Although Google is one of the companies that are leading the way, along with a total of 55 operators, Microsoft is also involved (possible implementation in Windows 10), and a group of 11 mobile device manufacturers, which does not include Apple at the moment, although it is already considering supporting this protocol.
For now, we will have to wait and see if new players will join the system and if it will become as popular as WhatsApp, or even more so.
