Research by Infobip predicts that Rich Communication Services (RCS) traffic will experience a fourfold increase over the next five years. According to data from tech analyst Omdia, RCS messaging, comprising both Application to Person (A2P) and Person to Person (P2P) traffic, is expected to rise from 1.5 trillion messages this year to over 6 trillion by 2029. This surge is expected to generate $4.2 billion in revenue for A2P RCS by the end of the forecast period.
RCS boasts traditional SMS capabilities by enabling users to send and receive enriched messages over data connections or Wi-Fi through a standard SMS inbox. Following the integration of this messaging service into Apple’s latest iOS 18 update, Omdia estimates that RCS will reach approximately 2.5 billion active users across platforms by the end of 2024.
According to the report, the Americas and Asia & Oceania will be the main drivers of A2P RCS traffic and revenue in the coming years. For instance, in Asia & Oceania, revenue is predicted to go from $169 million in 2024 to $2.2 billion by 2029, with traffic increasing from 5.6 billion to 64 billion messages.
In contrast, Europe will see more stable growth, with revenue rising from $22 million to $324 million and traffic going from 800 million to 11 billion messages. The Middle East and Africa will also experience growth, with revenue expected to increase from $13 million to $220 million and traffic from 545 million to 8 billion messages.
Infobip streamlines RCS Business Messaging through its Messaging-as-a-Platform (MaaP) service, which provides messaging benefits such as throughput control and content management.