Communications and connectivity have forever changed the world in which we live. When we look at the rural areas throughout the country, it is even more clear that the level of connectedness has become a necessity of a new paradigm where people can work, play, and live anywhere.
As a shift away from large cities into more rural communities takes hold, consumers realize that the rural mobile operators have provided the best in communication tools and services that they have come to expect.
But for this paradigm to grow, those of us in the telecom industry need to continue to push newer services and faster connectivity that new applications are demanding. Across our country, from those who live in the biggest of cities to those who choose to live their lives in a rural area, new mobile services and speeds must maintain parity regardless of geography. Beyond service parity, we also must retain one of our industry’s great strengths in the ubiquity of connectivity. Across the globe, we are a fabric woven together from all our unique organizations and offerings to provide a seamless experience to our customers. As we bring new services to market, we must always maintain that seamless experience and the competitive advantage that it brings.
If we think back to when SMS was first launched as a new communications tool, it was a company-specific island. In those early days, SMS was seen as an interesting service with potential but without the ability to communicate across networks; adoption was excruciatingly slow. The potential for this crucial service finally was realized when standards were adopted, intercarrier messaging was launched, and operators were able to provide that seamless service that users demand. It quickly became indispensable and arguably the most important mobile application ever launched.
Rich Communication Services (RCS) evolves that messaging experience and promises more robust features and capabilities for end-users, while also creating a new potential revenue stream for mobile operators as they build their penetration of the service to scale. Early RCS adopters are launching now, and they’re beginning to provide their subscribers with this new rich service. However, for RCS to be a success and for penetration to take off, we must achieve cross-carrier connectivity just as we did with SMS.
Read the full article in the CCA Voice.
