Attendees at the MEF event for business messaging discussed the challenges facing A2P SMS and RBM

The growing tensions in the application-to-person (A2P) messaging market were discussed at MEF CONNECTS Business Messaging in London on 13 May 2025. Rich Business Messaging (RBM) was a particular focus and featured in most presentations and panels.

The A2P SMS market has enjoyed steady growth in recent years, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Indeed, business spend on A2P SMS worldwide grew at a CAGR of 8.5% between 2020 and 2024 to exceed USD20 billion. However, numerous challenges surrounding A2P SMS and increasing competition from apps such as WhatsApp are likely to alter the market trajectory, turning SMS into a fallback technology for A2P messaging. RBM may be a means to preserve A2P messaging revenue, though it presents its own challenges.