Written by Diana Goovaerts, US Editor at Mobile World Live.

LIVE FROM CCA ANNUAL CONVENTION, PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: Interop Technologies executive Josh Wigginton tipped adoption of rich communication services (RCS) to accelerate as operators focus on opportunities around application-to-person messaging, but cautioned hurdles still remain.

Operators who deliver advanced messaging and voice services, like RCS and VoLTE, will no doubt enhance their subscribers’ mobile experiences. However, in order to secure the greatest gain from these technologies, operators also will need to update their current network and infrastructure to meet LTE, IMS, and soon 5G standards.

In our industry there’s certainly no shortage of articles, predictions, or hypotheses for the next generation of networks. In fact, there’s so much talk, that 7G is already a moniker appearing in industry rags, and I’m sure a little more research would have revealed even more sequential "G" references.

Despite being more than 10 years old, Rich Communication Services, or RCS, will finally come of age in 2019. RCS is the GSMA-backed messaging successor to SMS, enabling new features like group chat, read receipts, is-typing indicators, and media file sharing. 

Written by Diana Goovaerts, US Editor at Mobile World Live.

A panel of equipment vendors noted regional US operators can use VoLTE technology to boost spectral efficiency and recycle old voice spectrum for LTE to meet growing capacity needs, but must first work through technical hurdles related to location-based services.