How Telstra is reinventing messaging for Android smartphone users

Telstra is reinventing the humble SMS message that’s been connecting Australians for more than 25 years with a smarter service for the latest Android devices to keep it relevant to today’s users.

Telstra Messaging uses a new standard called Rich Communication Services (RCS) and introduces features more commonly seen in other popular messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

Features like group chat, file sharing and read receipts will now be part of Telstra Messaging which will effectively combine traditional SMS, MMS, chat and even voicemail in a single messaging thread.

Telstra Messaging also changes the way we receive voicemail.

Instead of having to call 101 Messagebank to retrieve their message, customers will now see the voicemail as an audio file within Telstra Messaging.

Telstra Messaging will be rolled out this week to customers using Samsung S7, S7 Edge, S8 and S8+ and to other Android users in the coming months.

“Today’s announcement signifies the next step in the introduction of data – driven mobile capabilities and a great demonstration of how we’re building the network for the future,” said Jeremy Howe, Telstra’s Head of Product Innovation.

“Telstra has pioneered the integration of next generation voice and video calling capabilities like 4G and wi-fi calling on smartphones in Australia, being the first to roll out these technologies to customers.

“With RCS now established, we’re continuing to evolve the network to bring more exciting voice, video and messaging features to our customers that will integrate directly into handsets, tablets and computing devices in the future.”

Garry McGregor, Director of IT and mobile at Samsung Electronics Australia said: “Samsung is constantly working to deliver the best possible combined device and network experience for our Australian Galaxy customers and we do this through ongoing collaboration and technologies like rich communications services.”