RCS Adoption Grows as O2 UK Hands Over Control to Google

RCS (Rich Communication Services) has witnessed significant growth, largely attributed to Google’s strong advocacy for the standard in recent years. Google has played a pivotal role in managing RCS services for numerous carriers worldwide. In the latest development, UK carrier O2 has decided to transition its RCS implementation on Android devices to Google’s services.

O2 officially announced this change, indicating that it will be effective from October 10. Prior to this, O2 customers received notifications about the transition via SMS.

O2 will gradually phase out its existing RCS infrastructure in favor of Google’s Jibe platform. While O2 anticipates minimal disruptions during the transition, customers will be required to accept Google’s Terms & Services agreement when prompted on their devices. This shift applies to both users of Google Messages and those relying on Samsung’s messaging app.

Notably, T-Mobile in the United States also made the switch to Google’s RCS service in September.

But what prompted O2’s decision to make this shift? According to the carrier, Google has ambitious plans to enhance RCS, making it “even better than it is currently.” By aligning with other UK carriers using Google Jibe, O2 believes this collective effort will lead to an improved experience for customers.

O2 provided the following explanation:

“Google Jibe is already used by other UK mobile networks, and the reason we’re doing this is because Google has plans for their RCS service to make it even better than it is currently, and with all UK networks using a single shared platform, the service can be developed at speed which will give customers a better service, sooner. We’re unable to do the same thing with our own RCS platform, and so this is an easy decision for us as it’ll result in a better experience for our RCS users in the future.”

The specifics of what Google intends to improve in its RCS service remain unclear, but it promises to be an interesting development to watch in the coming months.

For O2 customers, the transition to Google’s RCS will occur on October 10 for Google Messages users. There may be a brief period of up to five days during which RCS services could be temporarily unavailable. Customers using Samsung Messages will see the transition starting on November 6, with minimal disruption expected.