Samsung Electronics will be expanding the availability of its Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging platform, the South Korean tech giant announced at Mobile World Congress (MWC) on Tuesday. The company’s expansion efforts will be based on the NewNet Communication Technologies platform whose creators were acquired by Samsung last November, the press release states. Samsung intends to provide users with a number of major RCS features like video calls, group chats, and support for transfers of large files. The company’s announcement specifically highlights the main advantage of RCS technology – the ability to provide all of the aforementioned features without having users install additional apps.
To facilitate the expansion of its RCS messaging service, the Seoul-based company is planning to allow mobile service providers access to its RCS cloud. This platform will provide wireless carriers with the ability to launch their services without committing massive resources to developing an in-house network infrastructure, Samsung said. The company’s RCS hub will also support the interconnectivity between Samsung, other RCS-ready operators, and even RCS clouds developed by third parties, all with the goal of providing consumers with a consistent and omnipresent service. Samsung is currently collaborating with a number of wireless carriers with the goal of expanding the availability of its solution. The company’s current partners include T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, SK Telecon, and KT, while more collaborations are expected to be announced later this year.
Samsung’s platform is an end-to-end service consisting of native device clients, RCS-ready devices, cloud application servers, and the aforementioned interconnectivity hub. The South Korean tech giant will also ship the solution with a third-party monetization system, the company said. The service is a standards-based solution that adheres to all contemporary GSMA RCS requirements, which is why Samsung is hoping its platform will enjoy massive adoption rates on a global scale in a relatively short time frame. The company is currently planning to offer the service as a modular partnership that can suit particular goals and needs of each individual wireless carrier, though details on the matter are yet to be made available. Samsung is expected to provide an update on its initiative by spring.