Jio unveils tiered RCS pricing in India, Apple challenges WhatsApp
Jio has introduced new, tiered pricing for rich communication services (RCS) in India, making business messages like marketing promos, transaction alerts, and OTPs show up directly on iPhones using Jio.
This is Apple's first step into India's business messaging scene, where it will be going up against WhatsApp.
Businesses face new tiered RCS charges
Now, businesses pay different rates depending on the message type: marketing messages cost ₹0.27 to ₹0.30 each, transactional ones are ₹0.25, and OTPs come in at ₹0.11 to ₹0.16 per message, replacing the old flat rate of ₹0.08 to ₹0.10 for everything.
With more than 533.3 million users, Jio is leading RCS adoption here; Vodafone Idea and Airtel might join soon too.
This could heat up competition fast as global RCS revenue is expected to jump to $6.5 billion by 2030, with Apple's growing support and these new telecom strategies.