The three telecom companies (SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus) in S. Korea said on March 22 that the number of subscribers to next-generation messaging service "Chatting Plus (Chat+)" has surpassed 20 million.
Chat+ is the next generation mobile communication service (RCS; Rich Communication Services) that evolved from the existing SMS/MMS (MS/MMS), which is built into a smartphone in the form of an app. With Chat+, customers offer features such as up to 100 group conversations, up to 100MB large file transfers, gift-giving, remittance and read-checking.
Files under 5MB (photo, video, etc.) and message transmission are available without any additional data deduction. Considering that the amount of pictures taken by a smartphone is about 3MB (based on JPG file: 4032*1908 resolution), general number and transmission of pictures are available for free.
However, data will be deducted according to the subscription fee system when the capacity exceeds 5MB.
If you look at the usage status of Chat+ subscribers, about 98% of the usage status is less than 5MB, which means that most customers who use Chat+ can conveniently use it without any data burden.
Starting with the Three Telecom Companies' interlocking service in August last year, Chat+ achieved its usage increase to reach 20 million subscribers in just six months. In particular, monthly net users (MAU) account for about 85% of subscribers, and the majority of users consistently use the service after signing up.
There are 36 types of smartphones that support Chat+. It will continue to be featured in the recently launched Galaxy S20 series and new smartphones.
"We will continue to improve convenience of our customers through various new services such as releasing 'Biz RCS' and 'Chatbot', which are the corporate services of Chat+, by the end of this year," said Lee Sang-koo, head of SK Telecom's messaging division.
