Future Networks will be present at the GSMA M360 Latin America event in Bogotá, Colombia from 31st October to 2nd November to showcase the momentum of Rich Communications Services (RCS) and Messaging as a Platform (MaaP). Excitement about the person-to-person and business-to-person potential of the RCS platform is building in the region, with major service launch announcements imminent. Globally, 50 networks have announced RCS launches and an additional 25 networks are expected to launch in the near future. There is also an extensive amount of support across the board from Operators, Handset Manufacturers, Cloud Service Providers and Aggregators. Customer usage of the platform has grown rapidly from around 30 million users in 2016 to over 138 million users today. This figure is forecast to rise to 350 million by 2018 and to over one billion by 2019, making it the largest messaging platform in the world. “We are delighted to be upgrading the SMS experience to RCS for 4 billion people worldwide,” said David O’Byrne, IP Communications Director for Rich Communications Services at the GSMA.
The Future Networks Programme will be hosting and participating in a range of events at the LATAM M360.
The RCS and Messaging as a Platform (MaaP) activities will kick off on Tuesday 31st October with a Roundtable at 10:00am. The Roundtable will focus on the topic of “Getting Started on RCS” and will give attendees the opportunity to hear from invested Operators about their RCS roll-out plans. Aggregators leading the way on RCS A2P will speak about its potential as a business messaging platform, sharing examples of brand marketing campaigns. Hosted Service Providers will also share information on the options available for a hosted RCS service with Operators.
On Wednesday 1st November between 9:45am and 10:30am, the GSMA’s Future Networks programme will take the main conference stage, together with 3Cinteractive, Google and Mobile Network Operators, to discuss the commercial potential of RCS and A2P Messaging.
The GSMA’s 7th RCS A2P Future Messaging Lab will take place on Wednesday 1st November from 2:30pm to 5pm. The objectives of the Lab are to convene the leading stakeholders in the Latin American A2P messaging industry; demonstrate how RCS can drive success in A2P messaging; gather requirements and guidance on operational and commercial requirements; and explain how RCS can become an industry-leading A2P messaging platform. If you would like to register for the A2P Future Messaging Lab in Bogotá, please click here.
Finally, there will be presentations on the subject of RCS in both the Wholesale Agreements and Solutions Group LATAM (WASL) and Technologies and Terminals (TECT) working groups on Thursday 2nd November at 2:30pm to 3:30pm. We very much look forward to meeting you at the event and updating you on the industry’s progress of RCS and MaaP.
How to get involved