Why Vodacom cut off RCS

Vodacom says that Rich Communication Services (RCS) text messages sent over its data network are not currently delivering because it is busy finalising an agreement with Google.

This comes after a handful of Vodacom customers reported in August that RCS had stopped working for them and messages were either not sending, or being sent as SMSes.

RCS is an instant messaging standard developed and defined by the GSM Association (GSMA).

It is commonly referred to as an upgrade to traditional short message service (SMS) and is intended to replace SMS and MMS by offering a viable competitor to platforms like WhatsApp.

Similar to WhatsApp, messages are typically billed according to how much data they use, rather than on a per-message basis.

Until March 2023, Vodacom directly supported RCS on its network.

However, it informed subscribers last year that it would no longer provide RCS services directly.

Vodacom explained that it expected Samsung and Google to continue supporting the technology in South Africa.

It advised that newer versions of the Samsung Messages app and Google’s text messaging app, Messages by Google, to offer RCS as an option.

However, rather than running over Vodacom-provided servers, they would use Google’s Jibe Cloud.

“In most cases, the transition period between Vodacom cancelling the service and Google offering the user to activate their service will be fast — approximately less than a day,” Vodacom said at the time.

For users with Samsung Messages or Messages by Google installed and RCS enabled, it said they would be contacted by another provider to join the service again, with new terms of use.

RCS continued to work uninterrupted on Vodacom’s data network for more than a year, however something seemed to change in August.

Subscribers reported that they could still send and receive RCS messages when on Wi-Fi, but RCS stopped working while using mobile data on the Vodacom LTE APN.

This led to speculation that there may be a connectivity problem between Vodacom and the Google Jibe Cloud.

However, Vodacom said this was not the case.

“We’d like to confirm that there are no issues between Vodacom and Google’s Jibe servers,” said Vodacom.

“Vodacom remains committed to supporting new and innovative ways of messaging, including RCS.”

Vodacom said it was in discussions with Google and is yet to sign an agreement governing some of the terms to support customers.

“Vodacom is also engaging other global suppliers to support both Android and iOS to drive RCS adoption in the future.”

This likely refers to Apple recently adding support for RCS on iPhones with iOS 18.

However, like other carrier-based iPhone features, this requires Apple’s approval, which then enables the functionality on a per-network basis.

RCS offers features like group chats and support for file uploads, including rich media like images and videos.

It also has message status indicators such as delivered, displayed, and “is typing” notifications.

Although development on RCS began in 2007, early versions lacked features and interoperability.

An RCS specification named Universal Profile was later developed and continually rolled out since 2017.

Samsung and Google supported the standard in Android-based smartphones, but it has not enjoyed widespread adoption.

In the United States, the lack of adoption has been blamed on Apple’s refusal to support the standard in iPhone’s text messaging app, instead pushing people to use its proprietary iMessage service.

Following regulatory scrutiny in the European Union, Apple started supporting RCS from iOS 18.

Apple didn’t highlight the change in its major public announcements and wasn’t complimentary of RCS in official FAQs about it either.

“Apple’s implementation of RCS is based on the industry’s standard. RCS messages aren’t end-to-end encrypted, which means they’re not protected from a third party reading them while they’re sent between devices,” it states.

The iPhone maker also highlighted that RCS is a service provided by network providers and warned that some identifying information could be exposed when using it.

“When your device connects to your mobile network, it communicates with your network provider and their partners to set up RCS,” Apple said.

“User identifiers are exchanged for your network provider and their partners to authenticate your device and provide a connection,” it explained.

“These identifiers could include but are not limited to your IMEI, IMSI, current IP address and phone number. Your current IP address may also be shared with other RCS users.”

According to Apple’s webpage listing the carrier-based iPhone features supported around the world, the company shows that it does not currently offer RCS on any South African network.