Telecom Lead Team: The GSMA has announced
advancements in Rich Communications with version 5 of the RCS specification at
the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.
In addition, The GSMA along with the big mobile
operators have launched Joyn, a suite of features such as instant messaging and
video-calling that is going to be embedded in a large variety of handsets.
Joyn is the consumer-facing brand for Rich Communication
Services (RCS), a scheme that the mobile industry has been working on for a few
years as a way of regaining control over their users.
There is clear consumer demand for enriched messaging
and voice services, and Rich Communications provides mobile network operators
with solutions to address these consumer needs, as well as paving the way for
future, innovative IP-based voice and messaging services,” said Anne
Bouverot, Director General, GSMA.
Rich Communication Services (RCS), which provide MNOs
with a means of transitioning voice and messaging services into an all-IP and
LTE world, has gathered significant pace in America, Asia and Europe.
Since Rich Communications will be fully integrated in
devices, there is no need for our customers to download or install anything.
Ease of use is thus ensured and it will just work. We are looking
forward to offer new services like text chat, file and live
video sharing during a call to our customers soon,” said Rene Obermann, CEO
Deutsche Telekom.
Orange, Telefonica and Vodafone have already been testing
interoperability between their networks, and are likely to launch commercial
Joyn/RCS services this summer. Operators in France, Germany, Italy and Korea
will also offer commercial services this year, the GSMA said.
A large number of major operators have joined the RCS
push. Apart from those already mentioned, the list includes Bharti Airtel,
AT&T, Bell Mobility, Deutsche Telekom, KPN, KT, LGU+, Orascom Telecom,
Rogers Communications, SFR, SK Telecom, Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera, Telus and
Verizon.
Device availability is key to the acceleration of the
adoption of Rich Communications and top handset makers including HTC, Huawei,
LG, Nokia, Research In Motion, Samsung, Sony, and ZTE have announced support of
Rich Communications in their handsets, many of which will be on display at
Mobile World Congress.
Infrastructure vendors including Acme Packet, Alcatel-Lucent,
Ericsson, Huawei, Mavenir and Nokia Siemens Networks also support RCS and will
be showcasing their latest Rich Communications solutions at Mobile World
Congress.
In addition, the
GSMA predicted that Global mobile industry revenues will grow from US$1.5
trillion dollars in 2011 to US$1.9 trillion in 2015.
editor@telecomlead.com
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