Verizon Wireless plans to roll out support for RCS messaging in early 2019, according to Aparna Khurjekar, SVP of consumer products at Verizon. Google has been pushing the RCS standard over SMS to the carriers for several years.
RCS is the next-generation messaging system that was designed by the GSMA to provide media-rich messages, including read receipts, video calls, and group chats, to Android devices around the world. Carrier support on the backend is a must for the system to go live.
In the U.S., Sprint and T-Mobile announced support for RCS earlier this year, and each is in various stages of deployment. AT&T supports a version of RCS, though not the Universal Profile, which is what makes RCS work across carriers.
Verizon hasn’t said if it will support the Universal Profile, nor has the company given a firm launch RCS. Verizon already offers a media-rich texting app called Message+ to its customers.
It’s not known if Verizon will add RCS to that app, or launch a brand new app.
