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Google has announced the deployment of Chat, the commercial name of the RCS protocol, within its Messages application in the coming weeks in France and the United Kingdom. Theoretically, Android users should prefer to use the RCS rather than the SMS to send messages because they will gain in functionality, content and flexibility. Will this precipitate the death of SMS, a communication protocol that will soon be 27 years old? Probably not.
SMS is firmly anchored in our habits
The latest figures available to us are from the fourth quarter of 2018. According to Arcep, a drop in the SMS has been felt for two years, users referring to instant messengers like WhastApp, Snapchat, Telegram, Signal or Messenger. The total number of SMS in France reached 42.3 billion in December 2018 against 44.3 billion in December 2017. Admittedly, the inflection is significant but the volume remains substantial. The fact that Android users can access the RCS Chat should further accentuate this decline.
But the uses are well anchored and the SMS installed as a safe bet in the French. The last digital barometer of December 2018 pointed out that "SMS remain the preferred way of communication". 64% of people use them more often than instant messengers, compared to 19% in the opposite case. 16% of the population use both types.
Chat will not be usable in many situations
However, in the case of Google, the user will have to make the move to the RCS, either by updating its Messages application, or by downloading. In addition, there will be many situations where only the SMS will be accessible: between an Android smartphone and an iPhone, between a compatible Android and another that is not, in case the 4G data package is exhausted, or still in the absence of 4G or Wi-Fi connection. However, remember that the 4G coverage is not complete in France. Arcep estimates that 91% of the population was covered by 31 December 2018 and only 65% of the territory. All French should have access to 4G by the end of 2020 but there will always remain areas of the territory where it will be difficult to capture. Impossible to do without SMS for the moment.
How Google took the initiative
The Rich Communication Services standard was developed in 2007 by the GSMA to succeed SMS. In France, Orange and SFR * were the most motivated to deploy it. In 2015, they even launched Joyn, a commercial service supported by a group of European operators and operating this protocol. Joyn was abandoned at the end of 2017 because of lack of success. It would have even contributed to fragmenting the market by not making interoperable communications between operators.
In 2016, Google surprised the Mobile World Congress by taking the initiative to ally with twenty operators ready to accelerate the adoption of Chat, the new commercial name of the RCS. The idea is to promote this time an interoperable Universal Profile. Among Google's support, we find Orange. But, disappointed by the results, Google ends up announcing during its conference 2018 developers want to deploy itself Chat within its Messages application.
SFR leading in France
In the meantime, SFR is the only operator to have taken up the torch in France. He has made the RCS available on his mobile network for his customers for several months. But until its competitors get started, its subscribers can only communicate in RCS with other SFR subscribers. For its part, Orange is putting forward its deployment in Romania and Slovakia. These two markets are still in the observation phase. And the operator is cautious. "Our experience in other European countries shows that the development of RCS is relatively slow."
Outside the European Union, the incumbent operator has also rolled out the RCS under its brand in Moldova, Niger, Morocco, Tunisia, Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast and Madagascar. "We are studying the possibility of offering this enriched experience to our customers and to extend our business messaging offers to RCS in France", said a spokesman for Orange. Free Mobile did not respond to our requests on the subject, just like Bouygues Telecom.
According to the GSMA, the RCS would already be deployed by 76 operators worldwide. 59 more would count on getting there by 2020.
Source: GSMA, the Digital Barometer, the Observatory of Mobile Markets for the fourth quarter of 2018 Arcep.
* 01net.com is published by a subsidiary of NextRadioTV, itself owned by SFR Médias.
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