LAUNCHING RCS – THINGS TO CONSIDER

KOBUS SMIT, STRATEGIC ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR –GSMA

RCS Deployment Options

Operators face a number of choices in deploying RCS:

• RCS Infrastructure: on premises or hosted?

• Which vendor?• Which RBM server?

The following slides outline the alternatives

CONFIDENTIAL

ADVANTAGES

More flexibility

More options for differentiation from other

operators

E.g. integration with legacy messaging

Infrastructure can be partly shared with VoLTE

Allows to use joint registration

More efficient on client-side (e.g. battery

consumption)

Provides more visibility of the traffic and user

behaviour

Makes it easier to provide customer support

No need to provide authentication options to 3rd

parties

DISADVANTAGES

Requires more expertise to set up and operate

Deployment timeline will normally be longer

Requires the establishment of specific connections

with other networks

Most networks can be covered with connections

through hubs

Some may need dedicated connections (e.g. other

major operators in country)

Need for joint project with other network

3

Operator Owned Solution

CONFIDENTIAL

ADVANTAGES

Easy to deploy

Only requires providing access from cellular network

and enabling authentication

Access may even be straightforward if using the

internet APN as HOS APN

Almost no in-house experience is required

Easy interconnect

Almost instant connectivity to other networks hosted

by same party and all networks that party connected

to already

No technical expertise required for further

connections

Quicker to deploy

DISADVANTAGES

Separate infrastructure

Requires dual registration

Somewhat less efficient on client side

Little control over feature roadmap of network

More difficult to connect to legacy messaging infrastructure

Fall-back to SMS on the client is probably most viable

approach

Requires providing 3rd parties with options to authenticate user

Limits authentication options

Somewhat mitigated from UP 2.0 onwards with OpenID

connect authentication that can be performed against endpoint

provided by operator

Less visibility of traffic

Customer support and general monitoring (e.g. fraud

prevention) will be harder

4

Hosted Solution

CONFIDENTIAL

Hosted RCS solutions are a low-Capex, faster way to introduce RCS A2P services

Service provider may seek to monetise provision of the RCS service through

revenue-sharing on A2P revenue

Operators considering hosted services should:

Be aware of the WA.09 ecosystem principles

Be aware of the short, medium and long term financial pros and cons

Ensure they maintain control of the directory of chatbots reachable from the device

Ensure that they contractually maintain the right and technical ability to connect to

aggregators and chatbots, regardless of whether the chatbots are enabled by the

hosted solution provider or another party

5

Business Model for Hosted RCS

LEGAL INTERCEPT

Operator services are obliged to support legal intercept

Approaches differ by country and by vendor

Operators should request details of how Legal Intercept is satisfied from all potential vendors

One of 3 Models for Legal Intercept usually applies

1) Regulator says RCS is not a regulated service

2) Regulator Legal Intercept performed by 3rd

pary service provider 3) Regulator requires

Operator to provide Legal Intercept in their network

Both 2) and 3) above can be subject to a temporary derogation by the Regulator

RCS Interconnect

Interconnect is necessary to achieve reach and market coverage

Operators can choose point to point interconnect or interconnecting via hubs

RCS INTERCONNECTION DIFFERS FROM SMS IN SEVERAL REGARDS

Specification enables different approaches for person-to-person interconnect traffic and Business interconnect traffic Traffic type tag in traffic

header Different SIP address

format for originator

Emphasis on hubs (join once / connect to multiple networks) approach to deliver scale

Ability for MNOs to interconnect for A2P trafficin a commercially viable –currently no MNO is exploiting this capacity but it is achievable

RCS INTERCONNECTION ARCHITECTURE

MNO 1 MNO 2..n

MAAP PLATFORM

MAAP API Gateway

MAAP Platform

RCS Core

Session

Border

Controller

MAAP API Gateway

MAAP Platform

RCS Core

Session

Border

Controller

AGGREGATOR

RCS HUB

P2P INTERCONNECTION HUBS

Currently 2 hubs supporting active networks Vodafone Group hub Google hub(s) Europe,

Americas and Asia Multiple additional providers

of hubs entering the market (see below)

MNO hub initiative announced at MWC 2018

P2P hubs will be governed by GSMA document on

definition of hub-as-a-service

Hub interconnect MoUencouraging hubs to interconnect

Live HubsN. America

Live HubsEurope

N. America

Live HubsEurope

Live HubsChina

S.E Asia

Forecast to go from one to multiple launches in 2018

P2P INTERCONNECTION HUBS TODAY

AMX Brazil

AMX Mex

Rogers Bell Mobility

Sprint Tracphone

Reliance Jio

China Mobile

Singtel

ZTE

(China)

ZTE

(Singapore)

Google (San

Fran)

VF Albania

VF Romania

VF UK

VF Portugal

VF Spain

VF Turkey

Vodafone12

VF Ireland

VF Italy

VF Greece

VF Hungary

VF GermanyVF Czech Republic

Vodafone

DT Albania DT HungaryDT CosmoteDT SlovakiaDT RomaniaOrange Romania Orange SlovakiaTelenor NorwayTelenor DenmarkTelia Norway

Globe

Google Hosted

Vodafone Hosted

ZTE Hosted

WIT Platform

MNO Platform

Launched and interconnected

Launched

Launching this FY

Google

(Belgium)