Mandating Mobile RichnessMandating Mobile Richness

The GSMA implores mobile operators to get their acts together on offering advanced comms services as the innovations from outsiders keep coming.

This past January I became one of the millions of people to circumvent the cellular networks crisscrossing global airways by using an over-the-top (OTT) calling and text messaging app. Of no surprise, I suppose, is that my app of choice was WhatsApp. Equally unsurprising, I'm sure, is that the need for a cheap way to keep in touch with international travelers prompted my download and subsequent usage.

WhatsApp wasn't ideal, contingent as it is on Internet access, but still it got oodles of use out of me from January up until about two weeks ago. I stopped using it when the second of two daughters studying abroad for the Spring semester returned home and regular old calling and texting among us became feasible again... more or less. (I just may pick it up again given the vagaries of mixed-OS MMS-based group conversations, what with me on my Android device and them on their iPhones.)

I got to thinking about OTT apps like WhatsApp in reading a report on the future of mobile communications the GSMA issued the other day. As the GSMA pointed out (and we've written about extensively at No Jitter), OTT apps are encroaching on the once-undisputed texting territory the mobile operators had with. The numbers are a bit staggering -- as reported by the GSMA, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp together account for 60 billion messages daily, for example.

In surveying 4,045 individuals from China, India, Spain, and the U.S., the GSMA shared findings on the use of traditional mobile operator voice and SMS services, as well as OTT messaging services. The upshot: Communications services are strategically important, and mobile operators must have a compelling communications proposition if they are to remain relevant.

I can't help but think, "Well, duh."

The GSMA has long advocated that mobile operators update their mobile network services portfolios with Rich Communications Services (RCS), a set of enhancements that would enable them to support features like group chat, content sharing, and file transfers. With last week's report, "The Future of Mobile Communications," it reiterates that stance, calling for mobile operators to get moving on RCS as well as voice-over-LTE for supporting VoIP calling "as soon as possible."

Here's why, in a nutshell: "Many mobile customers want to be able to combine SMS and IP messaging so that they can send and receive messages from any network from a single inbox. Further, customers want to share the digital content they purchase like stickers, images, etc. with any other contact regardless of which messaging service, network or device they use."

So once they've begun offering advanced communications services, either by implementing their own IMS infrastructure or using a hosted solution, they need to forge service interconnections with other mobile operators, figure out how to make their communications services work on Wi-Fi and across multiple device types, and provide secure and reliable interactivity between businesses using these services and their customers.

I wish them well, truly I do. But those are big asks for lumbering giants. I've already noted that OTT app providers are besieging the traditional cellular network, and they're not the only ones coming up with innovative ways to better service mobile users. Top of mind, here are a few novel approaches aimed at helping users get more out of mobile connectivity:

As I said, these examples readily come to mind. I know if I explored a bit more I'd no doubt find many others. Some may present competitive threats, and others new business opportunities -- but all bring about that "as soon as possible" urgency for which the GSMA calls.

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