There was a lot of noise about RCS for Business at MWC26, which was encouraging. There was even an RCS for Business booth just off one of the walkways. All of the major CPaaS players were showcasing demonstrations, promoting their latest use cases and usage stats. Again, all really encouraging. Momentum is definitely growing. Until you get to the nitty-gritty, the issues, the traffic numbers, and what is actually happening out in the field.
Away from the glitz and glamour of the RCS demonstrations, the rays of sunlight and hope that emerged in 2025, penetrating the dark clouds that have loomed large over the RCS landscape, are dimming once more.
On the back of 40+ conversations, meetings, interviews that the Mobilesquared team had on RCS alone from our 5 days in Barcelona, as well as the data points and insights shared with us, we have slashed our traffic numbers for 2025 and reduced our traffic and spend projections for the remainder of the forecast period to 2030. (The good news is that this will boost our SMS outlook).
Our bullish view from 2025 was based on this growing momentum and expected acceleration of RCS among the enterprise. There are signs of strong growth (France), but otherwise, in all the other major RCS hotspots (UK, Germany, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and India), growth is anything but spectacular.
The US remains critical from a Google perspective, and probably from a global adoption perspective as well. But most enterprises remain committed to SMS, with RCS limited to a secondary role funded by experimental budgets. The RCS industry has not been galvanised by the prospect of The World Cup 2026 being held across North America and Mexico this summer as we had anticipated.
Most alarming of all for RCS for Business in general, is that issues that impacted enterprise adoption back in 2019 remain true today. A lot of heads continue to hit the same wall.
Onboarding is the biggest issue, probably because it is the first step, with multiple checks with multiple carriers making it a very fragmented and drawn-out process for any brand. This is not an issue that has changed over time, just one that has never been resolved by the industry, despite the relevant companies saying they are working on it. Next comes the integration of RCS with a brand’s existing CRM platform, another process that remains incredibly complex and time-consuming. And let’s not forget the age-old issue of pricing. A topic seemingly addressed when Google announced its billable events model (basic, single, P2A etc) based on alignment with existing domestic SMS pricing, but some markets are more closely aligned than others! That said, Germany appears to have a better handle on its RCS for Business pricing strategy than the UK and US, for example. (For the record, our view is that RCS pricing should not be linked in any way, shape or form with SMS).
Let’s not be under any illusions when it comes to RCS, it’s Groundhog Day. There is momentum but that is coming from a very small base. Hopefully soon Punxsutawney Phil will predict a warm spring ahead for RCS. It will happen.
I’m on the phone to Bill Murray’s agent right now to see if he is available to promote RCS for Business. For the sake of RCS, I hope he’s not available!!
