GSMA's Universal Profile and MaaP for Advanced Communications is embedded IM by Q2 2017

The disruption from OTT (Over the Top) players was unexpected. It took the mobile industry by surprise, turning the Telecom Providers, overnight, into dumb pipes.

This as Mobile Social Networks such as Snapchat, WhatsApp or Firechat as described in my blog article entitled  “How FireChat, 5G and Li-Fi means Free Voice or Data Services Network by 2020”, effectively use Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G to deliver services such as Free Calling and Video chat for “free”.

This has resulted in Telecom Providers losing out on potential revenue from offering such services themselves. With smartphones, Tablets and wearables i.e. smartwatches, fitness trackers becoming a part of our lives, from shopping to paying the bills, how we socialize and get the news, Telecom Providers are losing out big time.

Subscribers have become addicted to these services, forcing Telecom Providers to compete with each other by adjusting their monthly plans and rates to keep the addicted using their Data plans.

So how do Telecom Providers break this cycle and make money from their own data services?

GSMA's RCS now Advanced Communications - One single embedded messaging client to rule them all

The GSMA had launched the industry-driven RCS (Rich Communication Suite) initiative, to create a way for operators to deliver similar services to these OTT operators, regardless of network or device as described in my blog article entitled “How Google and GSMA RCS on Telcos means Ad Chatbots to unseat WhatsApp dominance”.

GSMA has now relaunched RCS as Advanced Communications (Kumbhar, 2016, December 28) with support from Google. The GSMA’s Universal Profile for Advanced Communication, launched in November 2016, will see the proliferation of Advanced Communications among Telecom Providers in 2017.

This will enable Advanced Messaging services for Telecom Providers in partnership with Telecom Equiptment Providers to compete with the services offered by Whatsapp, such as Video Calling as noted in my blog article entitled “How WhatsApp Video Calling matches Messenger and Beats Snapchat and Skype”. 

Simply put, for the end user, this means with build-in advanced messaging services embedded in smartphones, Tablets and wearables with the ability to do the following:

1.      Voice Messaging

2.      Video messaging

3.      File sharing

A global standard for all Telecom Providers and Telecom Equiptment providers, making it possible for anyone with a smartphone, Tablet or wearable that supports GSMA's Advanced Communications standard to instantly communicate across the Internet anywhere in the world without having to install an app.

Effectively, this is one single messaging client to rule them all that's already built into your smartphone, eliminating the need to switch between apps, as is currently the case when you want to add someone to WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Snapchat.

GSMA's Universal Profile and MaaP - Interlink legacy SMS and IP messaging services by Q2 of 2017

A part of GSMA’s Universal Profile for Advanced Communication is Universal Profile and MaaP (Messaging as a Platform), the idea is that your SMS could become one seamless IP based platform, where SMS (Short Messaging Services) would have the same features offered by Instant Messaging Apps.

This would Telecom Providers to monetize their SMS services by allowing app developers and enterprises, to build Universal Profile standard applications to send and receive messages and possibly use chatbots to enhance the services clients offer in A2P (application-to-person) interactions.

MaaP will interlink legacy SMS and IP messaging services and Universal Profile will make all devices across the globe have a single standard to identify users while using an Advanced Communication enable handset. By the second Quarter of 2017, Developer kits for app developers and enterprises for Advanced Communications suite will be coming with the following:

1.      APIs

2.      Plug-in integration

3.      Improved authentication

4.      App security 

Currently, few handsets support the RCS standard today. with the launch of Universal Profile and the MaaP by the GSMA, the groundwork is being laid for a standardised interoperability framework, this will allow Telecom operates to over from being a dumb pipe to being able to make revenue directly from their Data plans by delivering advanced and enriched messaging experience.

These features will be common across providers in the new 5G Network to come by 2020 as described in my Geezam blog article entitled “5G Networks with Renewable Energy, Fiber Optic Waveguides and AI” , making Telecom Providers and Telecom Equipment makers better positioned to compete successfully against the OTT players in the mobile space.

References:

Kumbhar, S. (2016, December 28). Advanced Communications: Connectivity to everything and disrupting OTT services. Retrieved from http://www.vanillaplus.com/2016/12/28/24413-advanced-communications-connectivity-to-everything-and-disrupting-ott-services/