The three largest Chinese operators, China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom; held an online conference at which they presented 5G messages. These are essentially improved SMS, offering users much more freedom in communication.
5G messages should be replaced by obsolete SMS and MMS standards. They allow the exchange not only of text, but also of images, audio, video, emoticons and contacts. In addition, users can see the status of sent messages and manage the correspondence history. The technology also supports additional ways of interacting with the user, such as paying for purchases.
In addition to operators, 11 smartphone manufacturers participated in the online conference, including HUAWEI, OPPO, Lenovo, Meizu, Samsung, Xiaomi, vivo and ZTE. The latter stated that she had helped China Mobile successfully test 5G messages based on the GSMA UP2.4 standard in Hangzhou. HUAWEI, for its part, has stated that it will start testing the new technology from April 10, with a commercial launch scheduled for June this year.
Another promising replacement for SMS is the Rich Communications Service (RCS) standard, promoted by Google. The American operators have already announced the switch. RCS also allows sending photos and supports group chat.
