“5G Message” is really here! Will WeChat face a strong rival?

Latest update time：2020-11-19

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At the 2020 China Mobile Global Partner Conference, which opened on November 19, ZTE demonstrated the world's first 5G messaging platform jointly built with China Mobile . ZTE said that the company has long been committed to 5G messaging innovation and research and development, and has now launched comprehensive cooperation with the three major domestic operators to assist operators in building 5G messaging platforms.

According to other sources, at present, mobile phones of brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and Samsung have passed the functional test of 5G messages. Among them, many Xiaomi mobile phones have supported China Mobile users to use 5G messages, and Huawei will also upgrade the 5G message function for the current China Mobile user version of the mobile phone at the end of November. In addition, the construction progress of the 5G message platform of the three major operators is different. China Mobile is the most advanced, but the three major operators are likely to jointly announce the commercial use of 5G messages at the end of this year.

(Photo source: Beijing Business Daily)

Will SMS applications experience a second take-off?

Operators' traditional SMS services are unable to meet users' diverse needs due to their simple functions and limited experience. When the 5G era arrives, global operators have reached a broad consensus: traditional SMS services need to be upgraded to rich media messaging services. Operators call this 5G messaging service.

In April 2020, China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom jointly released the "5G Message White Paper" . The "White Paper" expounds the core concept of 5G messages. The 5G message service upgrades the SMS service in a terminal native way while maintaining the original communication habits of users, fully inheriting the code system of telecommunications services, real-name security, interconnection and telecommunications-level service quality.

Simply put, 5G messages, namely RCS (Rich Communication Suite) rich media messages , are based on the unified GSMA RCS UP standard, with native SMS on smartphones as the entry point, and the mobile phone number as the user ID. It can realize the multimedia and lightweight of messages, and realize the interactivity of industry messages by introducing MaaP technology. 5G messages have the characteristics of high reach, rich media, strong interactivity, and convenient service capabilities. It can connect individual users with various service platforms and merchants, and enable RCS enhanced information to support rich media message push, which can be comparable to WeChat in terms of function.

The advent of the 5G era provides important soil for RCS, which will be the second take-off of SMS applications.

(Image source: 5G Message White Paper Online Conference)

The white paper introduces that 5G messaging service is a new upgrade of the terminal's native basic short message service, supporting a variety of media formats, including text, pictures, audio and video, etc. Specifically, 5G messaging brings a new human-computer interaction mode , where users can complete a one-stop service experience such as service search, discovery, interaction, and payment in the message window, building a new information service portal.

5G messages can be roughly divided into two categories according to the interaction method: information interaction between individual users and between enterprises and individual users.

For individual users , 5G messages will break the length limit of each message in traditional SMS, and the content will also break the limitations of text, realizing the effective integration of text, pictures, audio, video, location and other information.

For corporate users , 5G messages will provide an information interaction interface between them and individual users. Enterprises can provide personalized services and consultations to users through rich media such as text, voice, and tabs. For example, in a conversation with 12306, users can quickly book tickets, pay, change tickets, and other operations by sending voice or text or clicking on keywords.

(Image source: 5G Message White Paper Online Conference)

Ecosystem collaboration

5G messaging services integrate multiple media and message formats, and can be integrated with traditional SMS. 5G messaging services use artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data and other capabilities to provide users with efficient intelligent services, meeting users' rich information communication needs and diversified service needs.

The popularization of 5G messages is not only driven by operators, but also inseparable from the support of all parties in the industrial chain, and requires the concerted efforts of the industrial chain. The three major operators, relevant regulatory departments such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and terminal manufacturers are important components of the 5G message ecosystem. Because 5G messages are more complex than traditional SMS, they will also derive ecological service providers in terms of technology, channels, operations, data, content, etc. In this ecosystem, all walks of life, government agencies, etc. and individual users are still senders and receivers.

According to the GSMA plan, all future 5G terminals will support 5G messaging services, and relevant standards have been formulated. It is foreseeable that the widespread popularization of 5G messaging services will bring a new service experience to mobile phone users and bring valuable development opportunities to global operators, industry customers and related industries.

At present, mobile phones of brands such as Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, and Samsung have passed the functional test of 5G messages. Among them, many Xiaomi mobile phones have supported China Mobile users to use 5G messages, and Huawei will also upgrade the 5G message function for the current China Mobile user version of the mobile phone at the end of November. In addition, the construction progress of the 5G message platform of the three major operators is different. China Mobile is the most advanced, but the three major operators are likely to jointly announce the commercial use of 5G messages at the end of this year.

Does 5G messaging challenge WeChat?

In the second half of 2000, China Mobile launched its first mobile SMS service in China. Just one year later, the number of SMS messages sent nationwide reached 18.9 billion in 2001. In 2012, the SMS service reached its peak, with mobile phone users nationwide sending 900 billion SMS messages. In the five years since then, the number of SMS messages has been declining rapidly year by year, and the rise of WeChat is considered to be the direct cause of the decline in SMS.

Other companies that were defeated by WeChat include China Mobile's Fetion, China Unicom's Woyou, and China Telecom's Yixin. Fetion was especially popular because it was created before WeChat. At its peak in the first half of 2012, Fetion had 90 million active users. However, under the attack of WeChat, by April 2016, Fetion's daily user base was only around 3.5 million.

The birth of 5G messages is seen by many netizens as a challenge to WeChat.

If 5G messages want to develop rapidly, the number of users must exceed a critical point in terms of scale before it can grow explosively. Not only that, it is also questionable whether 5G messages will become an "advertising machine" that reaches everyone. However, it is understood that the three major operators will impose stricter supervision on the sending of 5G messages, and will impose unified restrictions on the sending platforms and rules, and will impose greater supervision on the abuse of 5G messages from the time they are sent.

Conclusion

5G messages will be comparable to WeChat in terms of functionality, and may not be able to snatch customers from instant messaging apps. Its greater potential will come from the B-side.

Do apps like WeChat feel threatened? Are you optimistic about the future of 5G messaging? Welcome to leave a message to discuss!