MetroPCS Communications announced the commercial launch of Rich Communication Services (RCS) on its 4GLTE network under the GSMA-licensed joyn brand.
Based on the GSMA RCS 5.0 standard, joyn by MetroPCS will deliver an experience beyond voice and basic messaging to provide customers with a unified and intuitive way to use enriched services like integrated instant messaging or chat, WiFi and video calling and simplified content sharing.
MetroPCS will support the following RCS services at launch for customers with 4GLTE joyn-enabled smartphones:
- Contacts Presence – joyn knows and shows how users can reach and share content with contacts at any time
- Contact availability/status sync (online, busy, away, unavailable)
- Calendar sync
- Social network interaction
- Enriched Chat – Threaded conversations keep track of who’s said what and show which people and groups are available to chat and share content
- Instant messaging and group chat
- Conversational view
- Delivery of read notifications and composing indications
- Content Sharing – Bring calls and chats to life by sharing content with just one click from the address book
- Share video, images and files while on a call and within instant messaging or chat
- Display service capabilities
- Geo-location
- WiFi and Video Calling – Stay connected with voice and video calls in areas with little or no cellular coverage
- WiFi calling and video calls over WiFi
“As the first 4G LTE carrier in the world to offer RCS, we are excited to join the global community of operators implementing the RCS standard and we are proud of our team and partners who were critical in building this capability that will evolve and expand over the next year,” said Roger Linquist, CEO and Chairman of MetroPCS.
“We believe RCS is a tremendous differentiator among prepaid and postpaid competitors alike and recognize that achieving interoperability across U.S. 4G LTE networks is the next key step to paving the way for more innovative services and capabilities in the future,” added Linquist.
joyn by MetroPCS will be available beginning today on the Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G.
In August, MetroPCS officially launched its commercial Voice-over-LTE service. The first sale of a VoLTE-capable handset occurred at one of the company’s Dallas/Fort Worth store locations.
Its first VoLTE-capable LG Connect 4G Android smartphone is now on sales at select stores across the U.S.. MetroPCS said it will continue to roll out VoLTE services and phones in the coming weeks.
MetroPCS had 9.3 million overall mobile subscribers as of the end of Q2, of which over 700,000 were LTE subscriptions.
With the new VoLTE, voice calls are carried transparently over LTE regardless of the handset or network used on the other end of the call.
“The initial move to LTE and this move to VoLTE allow us to achieve significant spectral efficiencies and will increase network capacity so that we can enhance the 4G LTE experience that our customers have today at a tremendous value. VoLTE also provides a foundational capability for future Rich Communication Services (RCS), which we plan to launch later this year,” stated Roger Linquist, chairman and chief executive officer of MetroPCS.
MetroPCS noted that it was the first U.S. carrier to deploy a commercial 4G LTE network in September 2010. So far, the LTE network rollout covers roughly 90 percent of its CDMA footprint.
