What is RCS?

The GSMA RCS initiative is a cross-industry group that has defined a common vision on delivering convergent  rich communication services. This Rich Communication Suite (RCS) will provide a feature-rich portfolio of services to unleash the communities hidden in a user’s phone book. Developed by the collaborative efforts of leading telecommunication companies, RCS service specifications have been launched in 2009 with an exciting range of features:

• Enhanced Address Book – provides presence and capability indications, enables users to initiate communications including voice calls, video calls, file transfers or messaging, and allows users to integrate multimedia elements, such as photos of contacts.
• Rich Call – enables users to exchange different types of content, such as video or photos, during a call.
• Rich Messaging – expands on traditional instant messaging to simplify and unify multiple messaging mediums and provide a richer user experience.
• Broadband access client and support for a multi-device environment so user access to services and applications will be possible from both mobile and fixed terminals (PCs)

For end-users, RCS means a new range of exciting, feature rich services from operators that will make the mobile even more central to their private and business lives – sharing a special image with friends or sharing data with colleagues around the world. For the industry players involved in the initiative, it will assist the rapid adoption of the mobile applications and services to deliver the rich communications experience to their customers.

The project is supported by over 75 leading companies including 25 of the world’s top operators representing 1.7 billion global connections. In addition, RCS has the support of 50 leading vendors of handsets, infrastructure and applications. Trials of RCS are planned to start in 2009.

More information about RCS is available on the GSMA’s RCS website.