The four major US mobile carriers have announced a joint venture aimed at eliminating the popular text messaging standard of all types of mobile networks from its inception until now, known as SMS, or SMS, to be replaced by a new standard for messaging. Scripts, known as rich communication services (RCS), are expected to be officially implemented in 2020.

The new standard

The new standard aims to eliminate the limitations imposed by the «SMS» standard on text messaging via mobile networks, especially the limitation of the size of the message by only 160 characters, and lack of instant communication, which has become the most important features of messaging tools applied in social networking applications.

The announcement was made in a joint statement by AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon, the top four US mobile operators. The statement was published on the 28th of this day, in the newsroom on the official site «Verizon» verizon.com/ about / news.

The four companies confirmed their intention to actually operate the new standard, and the final abolition of the SMS standard during 2020.

Text messages

“Text messaging is reliable and readily available, which is why we use it to build the foundation of a simple and immersive messaging experience,” said David Christopher, executive vice president and general manager of AT&T. To provide new and innovative ways for customers to interact with each other, and their favorite brands ».

"The new standard will provide a consistent and engaging experience that will make it easier for consumers and businesses to interact in an environment they can trust. As we have seen in Asia, messaging is poised to become the next important digital platform," said Sprint President and CEO Michael Coombs.

Although the actual implementation of the standard for rich telecommunications services will be in 2020, its historical roots date back to 2007, when it first began to consider introducing an alternative standard that replaces the SMS standard, which caused much trouble and distress. Users, because they cannot accommodate text messages with more than 160 characters.

An initiative was formed by a group of mobile operators. In February 2008, the GSM Association, which is responsible for the development of GSM communications networks, recognized this initiative, and the RCS standard became an official project of the association.

Three years later, in 2011, RCS released a new, improved specification of how it would work. Development continued until GSM published the Global Profile in November 2016, a GSM specification. Globally agreed advanced communications. The global profile of a telecommunications company ensures that interconnection with other telecommunications companies is achieved. The profile offers several features, including support for the RCS standard.

During 2016, the global profile was supported by 47 mobile operators, 11 mobile phone manufacturers, Google and Microsoft as manufacturers of mobile operating systems.

Although the global profile is designed to help telecom operators launch and expand RCS services easily, this has not been widespread. In practice, however, Samsung has been at the forefront of the phone manufacturers that have introduced RCCs in Europe since 2012 and in the US in 2015.

In April 2018, Google said it had moved the team responsible for the Google Allo correspondence service to work on the RCS standard. In June 2019, Google announced that it would start deploying the RCS service through the messaging application, through a service hosted by Google and not supposedly mobile operators, and that the actual operation will be in France and the United Kingdom only.

Finally, the announcement by the four major US mobile operators of the Carrier Messaging Initiative to jointly operate RCS using a newly developed application. Google said it would support the initiative with plans to enrich the new standard with updates on travel and automated services.

Technical characteristics

RCS combines the services provided by major international organizations and organizations involved in the development of mobile networks, such as the Mobile Open Alliance, the GB3 Group and the OMA Group. The primary objective of the standard is to enable mobile subscribers to interact with each other and with companies by providing the opportunity to make “multimedia calls,” a call that includes both voice, text and image, and to function as part of the IP address subsystem used. For the multimedia, the 160-character barrier can be removed and works in instant messaging in WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and iMessage.

5 versions

So far, five versions of RCS have emerged. First, it includes the first definitions to enrich voice and chat while sharing paid content, or paid by the subscriber to send from an improved address book configured to handle RCS.

The second version achieved wide access to RCS features by enhancing messaging and enabling file sharing among users. The third version focused on compatibility with devices or mobile phones running broadband or high speeds as a basic option.

Version 4 achieved compatibility with 3G and 4G mobile networks, and version 5 ensures full compatibility with new features such as voice and video calls over IP or IP, geographic location information exchange, and features such as stand-alone messaging and group chat , Transfer of file and content sharing, and social media information.

Discovery Capabilities

The RCS standard allows any phone to discover the capabilities of the other phone, to handle it in the way that suits it best when implementing messaging, and provides tools to deal with problems such as authentication, identification, licensing, registration, shipping and routing, to ensure privacy and secure correspondence.

- «Google» supports

The project plans to enrich

The new standard

Updates about travel

And automated services.