Tele2 sees RCS reaching a wider business audience

RCS has existed for years, but its reach in Sweden was limited while iPhone users remained outside the service. Tele2 says that is beginning to change after it activated RCS support on iPhone in September as the first Swedish operator to do so.

For businesses, Tele2 B2B chief Stefan Trampus says the wider reach could help RCS become a broader customer-communication channel. He says customer interest was already visible shortly after the launch, while stressing that the technology itself is not new.

Trampus identifies three main benefits of RCS Business Messaging: verified senders, richer media such as images and video, and interactive flows that let users take actions inside a message. Examples include rescheduling an appointment, answering a survey, tracking a delivery, or making a selection without leaving the conversation.

He expects adoption to begin among organisations with frequent SMS communication and relatively simple recurring processes, including service businesses, banks, insurers, public-sector bodies, and healthcare providers. Verified company names and logos may also help recipients identify who sent a message as concerns about fake senders and SMS fraud persist.

Tele2 launched RCS for Android in 2022. Trampus says support across Android and iPhone could now make the channel available to many more Swedish users, even though RCS remains an established rather than new technology.