Before John Stuckey joined us at TADSummit one of his Linkedin posts achieved 48k impressions, likely more than 50k impressions by now., RCS: Trojan Horse or Telco Opportunity?. Why was a post showing MMS still has life so popular? That’s what we’ll cover in this session.
We began with some background about John, beginning with IBM in the ’80s, Through AAPT, that was granted Australia’s 3rd carrier license when the market was deregulated. Growing revenues from $19m to $350m in 4 years.
Through a number of turnarounds, a first attempt at retirement, and then in 2013 purchased the assets of GiftSMS. An SMS gift card. SMS was not enough, and he shifted to develop a digital gift card solution that met the needs of mobile recipients. Rebranding as Mobile Digital, and delivering a visual solution, hence his MMS expertise.
Gift cards are a massive business. Currently estimated at $1.24 trillion in 2024. This market is expected to continue growing, projected to reach $2.31 trillion by 2030.
U.S. Market Forecast for 2025 is $447.1 billion. With an average gift card value of $47.91. It’s not just birthdays. At the end of the school year my son’s teachers receive them as thank yous for all their hard work. Gift Cards are delivered physically and online. Online requires a visual component, hence the fit with MMS.
Many retailers offer options to send electronic gift cards via email, text message, or directly through messaging apps like WhatsApp. The challenge with SMS and email are scams, potential for the email to go to spam or junk folders, and the possibility of the recipient not receiving or noticing the email / SMS.
But onto our discussion. Johnny joins, and asks why are we discussing the the Australian election, no one cares (in his opinion) and where is Australia anyway? That diverts us onto the Linkedin discussion, we will com back to the election and its messaging later.
Johnny raised an important point, the post triggered the industry, there is much pain in the industry. Last year, with Apple joining the RCS party, everything was set for launch. Yet here we are, nearly the middle of 2025, and discussions rumble on about encryption, campaign approvals, and pricing. This has happened for over a decade with RCS.
Carriers, in general, do not care about messaging, their focus is plans and phones. Google is driving messaging and it’s about training AI and advertising. Given Google’s market cap is the equivalent of all the carriers combined, how do you complete? Messaging appears to be Google’s game.
John focuses on his success in Australia. There are people who care in the carriers. MMS delivers a rich visual experience that surprises and delights on receiving the gift card. We know it, even with Amazon gift cards, I select the visual animations when I send them to my family. We’ve done it for years.
John was able to get the carriers to relaunch MMS, price down from 35c per message to one sixth, guaranteed delivery receipts, and minimum bandwidth of 300kbit/s. MMS gift cards work, and there are many applications beyond that.
John highlighted a couple of issues that SMS is polluted with spam, and young people do not open emails. I can definitely confirm the later. When I pick my son up from school, he’s not checking his email, rather reviewing SnapChat. Some of his friends use SnapChat as a dating app for meeting friends outside the local school district!
Johnny highlights the carriers are not listening. But John counters with his success in Australia and the massive engagement in his Linkedin post, RCS: Trojan Horse or Telco Opportunity?
John is focused on only two markets, Australia and the US. Both with low WhatsApp adoption and waiting for RCS to start. Australia has got MMS working, and the US similarly could follow their success, to deliver visuals that surprise and delights customers.
We did get back to the election, with 10M MMS sent, which is significant for the Australian market. It’s about 10% of social and direct promotion. Which given MMS recent relaunch shows interest.
I raise the question on why it’s taken so long, clearly Google dominates the telecom industry on messaging. Johnny had to drop as the kids were on the move.
The US carrier’s should take notice of Australia’s success. A few tweeks on pricing, guaranteed delivery receipts, and minimum bandwidth of 300kbit/s. It works, sweats an assets and delivers a delightful experience for customers. RCS will happen when it happens, that should not stop MMS innovations.
