Progress and Prospects of 5G Messaging

China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom jointly released the "5G Messaging White Paper" on April 8, 2020, for the first time proposing the concept of "5G Messaging." As an upgrade to traditional SMS services, 5G messaging has the following characteristics and advantages.

5G messaging is implemented based on GSMA RCS UP 2.4 and related standards, built on the IMS network, providing users with a collection of services such as voice, messaging, and status presentation. The 5G messaging system architecture is shown in the figure below, including terminals, 5G message centers, MaaP platforms, billing and settlement, message supervision, and interoperability, among which:

Terminal: The terminal accesses the 5G message center through the 3G/4G/5G network or WLAN, and the user uses the mobile phone number as the communication identifier;

5G Message Center: The 5G message center has functions such as 5G message management, distribution, and routing, providing a unified interface between terminals and networks. The 5G message center includes IMS access, RCS AS, content storage, and configuration management functions;

MaaP Platform: The MaaP platform is built on top of the 5G message center, providing a unified interface to Chatbot, responsible for the review and authentication of industry customer Chatbots, the upload and storage of multimedia content in industry messages, and supporting terminal queries of Chatbot directories and information;

Chatbot: Is a service provided by industry customers to end users in the form of a conversation. This service is usually based on artificial intelligence software, simulating human intelligent conversation to provide users with specific service functions;

Billing and Settlement: Used for billing and settlement of 5G messages. The billing points for 5G messages are in the 3G/4G/5G packet domain, 5G message center, MaaP platform, and interoperability gateway;

Message Supervision: Used to implement compliance review of message content and filtering and shielding strategies for inappropriate messages;

Interoperability: Used to achieve interoperability of 5G messaging services between different operators.

Currently, domestic 5G messaging-related standard projects are being carried out simultaneously in multiple working groups of CCSA, led by the three major domestic basic telecommunications enterprises. The main content and directions include: general requirements, service requirements, terminal requirements, interoperability, support and guarantee, security, etc., as shown in the table below.

China's 5G messaging standardization work is steadily progressing. The approval of "5G Messaging General Technical Requirements," "5G Messaging Terminal Technical Requirements," and "5G Messaging Terminal Test Methods" indicates that the series of standards have the role of guiding enterprise 5G messaging practices.

The participants in the 5G messaging industry chain mainly include terminal manufacturers, telecommunications operators, application developers, and industry customers. Among them, terminal manufacturers and application developers have not yet fully integrated into the industry chain.

Regarding terminal manufacturers, Since 5G messaging is a terminal-dependent service, it requires terminal upgrades and modifications to reuse the SMS/MMS gateway to support 5G messaging. Although some models of brands such as Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi, Honor, OPPO, and vivo currently support it, the terminal coverage is still insufficient. As the 5G messaging terminal standards stabilize and 5G messaging applications become richer, whether or not it supports 5G messaging will become an important factor for users to consider when purchasing terminals.

Regarding telecommunications operators, China's three major basic telecommunications enterprises have entered the live network deployment stage. Among them, China Mobile's construction speed is relatively fast, and the network-side functions basically meet the commercial conditions; China Telecom and China Unicom are relatively lagging, but with the help of leading 5G messaging equipment enterprises such as ZTE and Huawei, they will soon meet the commercial conditions.

Regarding application development enterprises, Currently, the main companies undertaking application development are SDK manufacturers and leading SP enterprises. These two types of enterprises have obvious advantages in the industry due to their strong technical capabilities and substantial financial strength. In contrast, small and medium-sized developers have not yet started developing 5G messaging applications due to limitations in the development environment, platform supporting services, and upfront investment in application development, resulting in a small number of existing applications and an urgent need for an equal and inclusive application innovation environment.

Regarding industry customer enterprises, Public service, finance, e-commerce, and business travel industry customers all have problems such as high APP installation costs and low usage frequency, and urgently need new promotion methods. Industry customers can use the strong interactive capabilities of 5G messaging to deliver the functions and services in the original APP to users in the form of text, images, voice, and tabs, achieving service "lightweighting." However, it is currently in a situation where "industry users have needs, and platform developers make demos," and no truly market-oriented applications have emerged.

First, user-centric, ensuring the security and high availability of 5G messaging. Security is the foundation of 5G messaging. Intensive research and deployment efforts are underway to ensure user rights are not violated, covering service quality, spam message control, network security, and personal information security.

Second, foster consensus on application innovation and expand the 5G messaging application ecosystem. A thriving 5G messaging ecosystem relies on diverse applications. During this golden period of development, leading industry players must abandon the 'king of the hill' mentality and actively collaborate to build the industry ecosystem. This includes providing a lower-threshold development and verification environment for small and medium-sized developers to promote application diversification.

Third, further improve the 5G messaging standard system to ensure interoperability of messages across enterprises and end-to-end message consistency. End-to-end reachability is key to the user experience of 5G messaging. Especially as 5G messaging applications become more complex, interoperability extends beyond cross-enterprise message interoperability to include new requirements such as cross-terminal message consistency. Standardization is crucial to ensuring a positive user experience.

Fourth, actively promote the features of 5G messaging and foster its integration with vertical industries. Currently, 5G messaging is not widely known to the public. Upstream and downstream players in the industry chain should proactively communicate the features of 5G messaging to users in various industries, encouraging them to consider how 5G messaging aligns with their own businesses and better leverage its advantages.

Author Introduction

Source: CAICT

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