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.

We're pleased to announce that Interop Technologies has been accredited by the GSMA as a Hosted RCS Solution Provider. This designation means that our RCS solution fully complies with RCS specification v1.2.2, which we demonstrated by passing a series of rigorous tests. 

As use of over-the-top (OTT) communications services continues to grow, demand for wireless data has soared. Today’s mobile network operators, while making infrastructure investments to meet this demand, also face declining messaging volumes and revenue due to the popularity of these third-party OTT alternatives. 

I often write about how OTTs can suffer from quality of service issues that operator-provided, standards-based services do not. I ran across an article last week that illustrates this point quite well. Path, a messaging app similar to WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, recently sent out an SMS to everyone in a group of users' phonebooks—from ex-boyfriends to business associates—indicating that the sender had photos available for them on Path. “Not the kind of thing you would want sent to your buddy's wife on a Friday night,” the article aptly notes.

Written by Rafael A. Junquera, Director of editorial at TeleSeman.com 

The debate over how mobile operators can offset Over-the-Top (OTT) providers is ongoing as these players are capturing smartphone users, and operators are debating a solution to the dilemma through their events and forums.