Rich Communication Services (RCS) is moving into a new phase of enterprise adoption, and the focus for mobile operators is increasingly shifting from simply enabling the technology to building a sustainable business around it.

Against that backdrop, Infobip has launched RCS BusinessOS, an end-to-end operating model designed to help mobile operators launch, manage, monetize and operate RCS for Business without having to build the entire commercial and operational infrastructure themselves.

The development is significant for the wider telecom and CPaaS ecosystem because RCS is increasingly becoming an alternative to traditional SMS and an additional channel for brands, enterprises and customer-engagement platforms.

From RCS Enablement to Operator Revenue

For years, the RCS discussion has largely focused on technical deployment, device support and interoperability. As adoption increases, however, operators face a different challenge: how to turn RCS traffic into a scalable commercial service.

Infobip’s new platform is built around four areas:

• Enable – technical enablement, device provisioning, ecosystem integration and onboarding.
• Control – network visibility, traffic governance, spam and fraud protection, and operational policies.
• Monetize – commercial models and CPaaS capabilities that allow operators to generate revenue from RCS traffic.
• Operate – managed services, customer onboarding, support and ongoing lifecycle management.

The modular approach means an operator does not necessarily need to build every component internally. Instead, it can adopt the capabilities required for its market and operational model.

Why RCS Is Becoming More Important for Carriers

The business case for RCS is becoming stronger as enterprises look for richer alternatives to traditional SMS.

RCS supports branded messaging, rich media, interactive cards, suggested actions and two-way conversations. It can also provide engagement information that goes beyond basic SMS delivery metrics. Google’s RCS for Business platform highlights capabilities such as verified branding, rich media, analytics and automated fallback to SMS/MMS where RCS is unavailable.

For mobile operators, this creates another potential layer of value on top of existing messaging infrastructure.

Instead of treating RCS purely as a network feature, carriers can position it as an enterprise communications product.

That opens opportunities involving:

• Enterprise messaging
• CPaaS partnerships
• A2P messaging
• Customer notifications
• Authentication and OTP
• Marketing communications
• Customer service
• Conversational commerce
• Rich-media campaigns

The Scale of the Opportunity

The timing of the launch reflects accelerating RCS adoption.

Infobip reported that its RCS for Business traffic increased 169.3% between the first half of 2025 and the first half of 2026. The company also said it processed registration requests for more than 7,300 brands and supported 14,000 successful RCS agent launches during 2026.

Infobip’s RCS BusinessOS announcement cites Juniper Research forecasting that global RCS business messaging will exceed 485 billion messages by 2030, compared with 125 billion in 2026.

That growth creates an important question for carriers: Who captures the value generated by all that traffic?

If enterprises increasingly move customer communication from SMS toward RCS, operators need the commercial tools, traffic controls and partner ecosystem necessary to participate in that transition.

CPaaS Providers Could Become an Important Part of the Model

One of the most interesting aspects of RCS BusinessOS is the role of CPaaS.

Infobip’s operator model includes integration with CPaaS platforms, aggregators and SaaS providers. Its telecom offering also describes direct, carrier-led co-selling and platform integration as potential routes to market.

This could create a broader ecosystem involving:

Mobile Operator → CPaaS Platform → Enterprise → End Customer

For carriers, CPaaS partnerships can provide access to enterprise traffic without requiring the operator to build every enterprise-facing sales and technology function internally.

For CPaaS providers, direct operator connectivity can potentially improve control over routing, commercial relationships, traffic governance and local market requirements.

Fraud and Traffic Governance Cannot Be Ignored

More messaging traffic also means more opportunity for abuse.

RCS BusinessOS includes traffic governance, spam and fraud protection, sender management and regulatory controls as part of its Control layer.

This is particularly important as business messaging becomes more interactive.

Operators need to know:

• Who is generating the traffic?
• Which businesses are authorized?
• What type of messages are being sent?
• Where is the traffic originating?
• Is the traffic domestic or international?
• What volumes are being generated?
• Are unusual patterns indicating fraud or abuse?

For the carrier community, RCS growth therefore should not be viewed purely as a messaging opportunity. Revenue protection and traffic intelligence will become equally important.

What This Means for Wholesale Telecom

The growth of RCS does not necessarily mean the end of SMS or traditional wholesale messaging.

Instead, the market is likely to become more segmented.

SMS will continue to serve broad compatibility and fallback requirements, while RCS can provide richer experiences for supported users and use cases.

For wholesalers, aggregators and messaging providers, this creates potential opportunities around:

• RCS connectivity
• SMS/RCS fallback
• International messaging
• A2P traffic
• Enterprise onboarding
• CPaaS connectivity
• Fraud prevention
• Sender verification
• Local carrier partnerships

The key question will be whether wholesale messaging companies can adapt from simply selling message termination toward providing multi-channel communications infrastructure.

The Bigger Telecom Trend

Infobip’s RCS BusinessOS launch is part of a broader shift in telecom.

Operators increasingly have access to network capabilities that can be exposed to enterprises through APIs, CPaaS platforms and managed services. RCS is one example of how network operators can move further up the communications value chain.

The competitive advantage may no longer come simply from having network connectivity.

It may come from combining connectivity + messaging + APIs + analytics + fraud controls + enterprise distribution into a commercially viable platform.

For carriers considering RCS today, the question is therefore becoming less about whether RCS should be supported and more about how it should be commercialized.

What do you think?

Are mobile operators positioned to capture meaningful revenue from RCS, or will most of the value continue to flow toward CPaaS providers and messaging aggregators?

Share your view with the Telecom Carrier Forum community.