A battle is brewing between Google and WhatsApp over the Rs 2,500 crore enterprise messaging market in India.
The US search large is pushing an alternate cell phone messaging system within the nation that would disrupt the rising use of WhatsApp by enterprises for speaking with clients.
That has the potential to upend the broader messaging-based communication ecosystem within the nation, consultants stated.
Vodafone Concept (Vi) has turn into the primary Indian telecom operator to accomplice with Google for providing wealthy communication service (RCS) messaging to enterprise clients in India, with greater telco rivals Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel anticipated to affix the bandwagon quickly, business executives stated.
The potential adoption by enterprises of Google’s RCS—priced at nearly twice conventional enterprise SMSes however 70-75% decrease than WhatsApp’s expenses—is predicted to web operators a considerable income share.
RCS may even assist operators counter the rising transfer by enterprises away from the normal SMSes to over-the-top (OTT) platforms akin to WhatsApp, stated consultants and business executives.
Telcos have beforehand sought regulatory intervention to forestall the transfer of enterprise messaging onto platforms akin to WhatsApp, highlighting threats starting from cybersecurity and fraud threat to lack of income not just for the carriers but additionally for the nationwide exchequer to the tune of Rs 3,000 crore.
To make certain, there are challenges to wider adoption of Google’s RCS with India nonetheless having practically 300 million characteristic cellphone customers and a smaller however key variety of individuals with iPhones. These, as of now, do not assist RCS.
At stake is the enterprise messaging market, which was simply shy of Rs 2,500 crore on March 31, 2023, in response to a Frost and Sulivan report.
However the pie is increasing, because it turns into more and more related for companies with digital funds and ecommerce scaling up, consultants stated.
“Vi has began onboarding enterprises for RCS messaging at a 70:30 income share mannequin with Google,” a prime telecom govt advised ET. “The present pricing (for Google RCS) is at 20-25 paise per message, of which 70% goes to the telecom service supplier. Google can be in aggressive talks with Airtel and Jio and we count on each operators to affix the RCS channel quickly.”
Vi, Airtel, Jio and Google didn’t reply to ET’s queries.
Google’s RCS messaging travels over WiFi or cell knowledge to terminate on the default Google messenger app on Android telephones. It provides wealthy media capabilities akin to learn receipts, high-resolution photographs and movies in addition to group messaging options. Being a GSMA (or international telecom business) normal, RCS messaging is an operator-controlled ecosystem and requires assist of the cell provider. Thus, for RCS messaging, a regulatory intervention is feasible not like WhatsApp, which is end-to-end encrypted personal channel messaging.
In India, the normal SMS channel is at the moment nonetheless the powerhouse amongst all communication channels with a 95% market share, carrying over 1.5 billion messages per day, making up a bulk of the over Rs 2,500 crore market. Nevertheless, WhatsApp Enterprise messaging has additionally picked up these days with its India income disproportionately greater relative to its 5% share in such site visitors. Different channels embrace Telegram, e-mail, conversational chatbots, voice, IVR and so on.
Between the SMS charge at 10-12 paise per message and the WhatsApp Enterprise charge at 75 paise, RCS is strategically pegged at 20-25 paise, which has the potential to disrupt each segments, stated business executives.
“Google RCS clearly has a number of benefits and we’re positively seeing a shift amongst our enterprise clients, who are actually adopting this channel over others,” stated Deepak Goyal, chief enterprise officer of Karix Cellular, which he stated has turn into one of many largest contributors to Google RCS volumes globally.
RCS provides a extra interactive and visually interesting expertise in contrast with SMS, he stated. Return on funding is larger than SMS as a result of promotions by wealthy media carry extra conversions and higher engagement, Goyal stated.
The messaging system is poised for robust development in 2024 as a result of it brings the very best of each worlds–WhatsApp-like, wealthy two-way communication at a pricing akin to SMS, stated Rajdipkumar Gupta, managing director of cloud communications firm Route Cellular.
RCS is dwell in over 95 nations. In December 2023, it rolled out new options after crossing the milestone of 1 billion messages globally, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai had stated in a publish on X.
Nevertheless, there are challenges, executives stated. Aside from iPhones and have telephones not being at the moment appropriate, OTPs, transactional and repair messages nonetheless kind the majority of such communication, constituting 80% of day by day site visitors. These are mandated by the RBI to be despatched solely by SMS, Gupta stated.
“Contemplating all elements, we imagine, manufacturers will endeavour to calibrate the very best omnichannel technique suited to completely different goal teams throughout all channels to reap the very best ROI,” stated Goyal of Karix.