Infobip Research Projects A2P RCS Revenue in Asia to Hit $2.2 Billion by 2029

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Oct. 14, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — A new whitepaper commissioned by global communications platform Infobip shows Application-to-Person (A2P) Rich Communication Services (RCS) growth in Asia and Oceania region will generate $2.2 billion in revenue by 2029, with India leading the charge as the most promising market. Undertaken by tech analyst Omdia, RCS traffic will quadruple over the next five years globally. The RCS Application to Person (A2P) and Person to Person (P2P) traffic will increase from 1.5 trillion messages this year to more than 6 trillion messages in 2029. As a result, A2P RCS will generate revenues of $4.2 billion by 2029.

RCS: Igniting business messaging with rich conversations

RCS is the next iteration of SMS, enabling consumers and businesses to send and receive rich messages via a data connection or Wi-Fi using the standard SMS inbox. Following Apple's adoption of the telco messaging service in its latest iOS 18 update, Omdia expects RCS to have a cross-platform reach of an estimated 2.5 billion monthly active users by end-2024.

The research shows that the Americas and Asia & Oceania will be the primary drivers of A2P RCS traffic and revenue over the coming years:

Region Revenue 2024 Advertisement Revenue 2029 Traffic 2024 Traffic 2029 Asia & Oceania Advertisement $169m $2.2bn 5.6bn 64bn Advertisement Americas $113m $1.5bn 4.7bn Advertisement 54bn Europe $22m $324m Advertisement 800m 11bn Middle East & Africa $13m Advertisement $220m 545m 8bn Source: Omdia

In Asia & Oceania, India's large Android user base, which stands at a staggering 90% in 2024, makes it the region's focal point for future growth in messaging services. As per the findings, of the $2.2 billion in revenue and the 64 billion messages generated by A2P RCS in Asia and Oceania in 2029, $544m (25%) and 21 billion messages (33%), respectively, will come from India alone. By 2029, India will have an installed base of 254 million A2P RCS users.

Ivan Ostojic, Chief Business Officer at Infobip, said: «RCS has many benefits, and with the Apple upgrade, it now has universal availability. Consumers do not need to download a chat app to send and receive photos or videos.