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The changing face of mobile communications services People around the world increasingly rely almost entirely on their mobile phones to communicate with others. Globally, SMS is still the most popular form of messaging, however, Rich IP-based messaging services are becoming increasingly popular.  For example, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp together handle 60 billion messages a day. Mobile operators’ SMS and voice calling services are also widely used. A GSMA-sponsored online survey across Spain, India, China and the US found that 64% of Internet users send SMS daily compared with 75% who use instant messaging. Some 80% said they make or receive mobile phone calls daily and 27% video calls. However, there are major differences between markets. In Spain, for example, only 23% said they still use SMS daily, compared with more than 75% in the other three markets. Moreover, video calls are much more popular in China and India than in Spain and the US.  The survey highlighted strong interest for ‘advanced communications’ services that are mobile operatorled messaging services such as pre-calling, instant messaging, live video and real-time photo or file sharing that are enabled by Rich Communications Services (RCS) and Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) and work natively on any device and network without the need to download an app.