As MWC returns to Shanghai later this month, there is a natural focus on the latest developments in Rich Communications Services (RCS), the mobile industry’s major collaborative upgrade to SMS. RCS Business Messaging offers particularly rich commercial opportunities for operators, partners and enterprises: users can interact with all their brands through a single interface, forgoing the need to download and switch between multiple different apps, while enjoying a new generation of engaging multimedia features. The momentum of RCS continues to grow with huge investment and engagement from the ecosystem and a potential market value estimated at $74 billion by 2020.
As consumers become increasingly aware of how RCS can simplify and enhance their lives, their behaviour is helping to drive the innovation of this platform: early evidence of user preferences and habits is monitored closely, and helps to inform forthcoming design. Those user experiences will be discussed at our RCS Business Messaging Seminar: Transforming Consumer Experiences, on Wednesday 26 June between 10:00 and 12:00, at the Ru Room in the Jumeirah Hotel. We will hear exciting news from our Keynote speaker Renfeng Zhuang, Director and Deputy General Manager of China Mobile, the latest news from all Japanese operators on how their RCS launch is performing, and hear major updates from the Leaders in RCS – including our Sponsor LivePerson, 3Cinteractive, Juphoon and Mobilesquared who will together discuss progress and together chart the road ahead. The striking results of today’s live campaign’s will be reviewed, tactical advice shared for making the most of today’s market potential, and the future strategic vision for the platform debated. Please register here if you’d like to come along.
The rollout of RCS is supported around the world by a series of collaborative GSMA RCS Business Messaging Labs, which bring together a range of speakers from leading operators, mobile technology providers and brands, and are designed to progress RCS and provide value in the ecosystem. The latest of these, the RCS Business Messaging Awareness Lab #25, sponsored by LivePerson will take place on Wednesday 26 June between 13:30 and 17:30, at the 5/F Dome in the Kerry Hotel. This two-part event starts with a Summit hosted by China Mobile, between 14:00 and 15:30, where a series of introductory speeches will set the context for the more deep-dive sessions at the Lab itself. Attendees gain the opportunity to contribute to formative discussions shaping the future of RCS, and make the professional connections needed to continue doing so once they’ve left. RCS is still at a relatively early stage of its development, and open to influence from those with ideas – and, as with any emerging technology, there are standards being devised now that will guide the course of things to come. To play your part in that process, please register here.
Operators also have a core role to play in the future of entertainment, as enablers of much of the technological underpinning of Extended Reality (XR), which combines computer-generated virtual elements into the real environment. To deliver these experiences properly, XR relies on demanding technologies such as edge computing and requires high data transfers and low latency – all of which will depend on 5G to be deployed at scale. Our 5G Cloud XR Summit, on Thursday 27 June, will focus on the commercial opportunities available to operators and their partners – a key example being Cloud gaming – and the business models that can help to realise these. Speakers will help delegates identify the key use cases, value chain, stakeholders and business models in Cloud XR, in part by sharing their own case studies and best practice. To hear from senior representatives from Deutsche Telekom, Huawei, China Mobile and others, join us in the Hong Room at the Jumeirah Hotel between 09:00 and 12:30 by registering your interest here.
The step-change in broadband capability resulting from 5G will also be the engine behind many of the revolutionary gains from artificial intelligence; one such gain being how AI network automation can minimise the cost intensity of 5G deployment itself, to make rapid and widespread adoption as viable as possible. The GSMA has been collaborating with innovators with compelling propositions on this front who will gather at our AI in Network Seminar, on 27th June between 9am and 12.35pm, to share their findings and discuss strategy. If you’d like to take part in these pivotally important conversations on the commercial future of 5G, joining senior representatives from Ericsson, Huawei, China Unicom and others, please let us know here, as space is limited.
All of these areas of development – RCS, XR and 5G AI services – will be well represented this year at the Innovation City, one of Mobile World Congress’ most visited spaces. China Mobile and Huawei will be there to showcase an interactive AI chatbot powered by 5G, which can help you get news and weather updates by video call; Deutsche Telekom will demo their latest immersive XR gaming, which doesn’t require wearables on the part of the user; and China Mobile, LivePerson, 3C and OpenMarket will share the latest in RCS Business Messaging. Please just drop into Hall N5 whenever you can throughout Mobile World Congress Shanghai – we look forward to seeing you there.