Summary

2025 saw strong growth for all pillar channels in LATAM, with an overall 62% increase in interactions in the region.

WhatsApp remains the dominant messaging app in LATAM with the highest penetration rates in most markets. While WhatsApp volumes showed a healthy year-on-year growth of 18% for the region, we are also seeing significant growth for RCS, Voice and Video, Email and SMS as brands explore use cases that utilize a blend of channels to provide the most effective and efficient service to their customers.

Regulatory changes:

There were some significant shifts in privacy and compliance regulations across the region during 2025:

• In Argentina a new legislative bill was introduced that aims to modernize the national data protection framework toward GDPR-level standards, increasing compliance pressure for brands using messaging for customer engagement.
• In Brazil new rules that apply to the movement of personal data across international borders came into effect in August 2025. Similar to GDPR in Europe, the ANPD’s (National Data Protection Authority) rules impact how regional businesses move customer data across cloud environments and messaging platforms. Brazil and the European Union have recognized each other’s frameworks as equivalent, allowing free flow of data between them without additional, specific instruments.
• In Columbia the data protection authority increased sanctions and warnings related to contacting users without consent, showing strong enforcement even without major new legislation.

Platform-driven risks

2025 saw cases of WhatsApp Business accounts in the region being restricted or suspended, which highlights the operational risk tied to Meta’s automated enforcement. Although these incidents were isolated and efficiently resolved, they reinforce the need for brands to both adhere to platform policies and have effective and automated fallback channels in place.

Connectivity and infrastructure

Multiple 5G launch announcements across the region in 2025 will help to further accelerate adoption of richer messaging formats (RCS, multimedia, conversational experiences). This will also shift user expectations around message interactivity and latency.

KEY STATS

62% increase in interactions in LATAM

All channels 5 year growth

Country and channel YoY growth

5-year channel trends

YoY growth per industry

Insights provided by:

• Verified sender programs
• Brand vetting
• Network‑level spam detection

KEY STATS

Total increase of 20%

Messaging app penetration per country

YoY growth

Why voice continues to grow in North America

Voice continues to see strong growth in North America because it remains a highly trusted and widely used channel for support, authentication, and other high-value customer interactions. This is being further accelerated by AI-powered voice agents and innovations like Branded Calling, which help restore trust by showing verified business identity directly on the handset.

In the U.S., strong voice performance is also supported by direct network ownership, which enables higher call quality, reliability, and faster setup. As businesses add automation and AI-driven capabilities, voice is evolving into a more intelligent, scalable, and high-impact engagement channel.

YoY growth per industry

Omnichannel usage

Insights provided by:

Summary

With mature markets and proven privacy and compliance regulations, the enduring messaging trend in Europe is sustained and consistent growth. However, the 44% overall increase in the region does conceal some notable spikes in channels and individual markets with a 4x growth in RCS messages and sharp increases in Poland (161%) and Italy (59%).

European messaging growth – 5 year trend

TRENDS

Rich messaging channels go mainstream

The most significant shift in European enterprise communications is the repositioning of WhatsApp and RCS from experimental channels to core business infrastructure.

SMS still accounts for the majority of traffic in Europe and remains critical for time-sensitive and security-led use cases. In BFSI, SMS and RCS continue as dominant channels for authentication, validation, and payments because they are proven, trusted, and secure.

Security drives channel choice

Increased smishing attacks across Europe are directly impacting customer willingness to engage with brand messages. Verified senders play a key role in rebuilding customer trust, encouraging users to engage with messages and links again by clearly identifying legitimate brands. Trust now directly correlates with engagement: customers are more likely to open, read and act on messages when brand identity and security are clear.

RCS investments are delivering a measurable impact on fraud reduction. Features such as verified senders, authentication for OTPs, encryption in transit, and spoofing prevention can make RCS more secure against smishing attacks than traditional SMS.

KEY STATS

Total increase of 44%

Channel penetration per country

YoY growth

Growth per industry

Omnichannel usage

Insights provided by:

Summary

Once again, the APAC region has proved to be a powerhouse in terms of growth in messaging volumes, and in rolling out new messaging use cases utilizing multiple channels, often in conjunction with AI to solve practical, high-impact business problems.

The 51% annual growth that we saw in 2024 more than doubled in 2025 to 106%.

Part of this growth is part of the global increase in email volumes on our platform, with Singapore serving as a distribution hub for the wider region. However, there were also significant increases for Mobile app messaging (150%), Viber (45%), and SMS (14%).

5 year messaging growth

TRENDS

Viber increases

We have seen a significant 45% increase in Viber traffic in APAC during 2025.
The Philippines is Viber’s single strongest market in the region and one of its top markets globally, accounting for over 11% of global users (Source).

There is marginal growth in countries including Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore but with high penetration rates for other messaging apps including WhatsApp, Telegram, Kakao and Line in these countries we should continue to see the Philippines as the dominant market for the app.

RCS growth

While it still represents a small proportion of overall platform traffic in the region, there was a 5x increase in RCS traffic across APAC in 2025.

With a large number of individual countries in the region, there is a mix of market readiness for RCS. Japan, South Korea and Singapore are the most advanced with full carrier support or close to it.

Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines have some carrier support, but execution is fragmented. With a huge population of RCS compliant handsets in these regions, they have the potential for exponential growth once there is carrier and regulatory alignment.

AI adoption

As in previous years, businesses across the APAC region have continued to show a strong appetite for adopting AI. This includes employee adoption rates and willingness by businesses to invest in AI to solve practical, high-impact business problems.

Crucially, new research from McKinsey, EDB, and Tech in Asia shows that businesses in APAC are far more likely than those in Europe and the US to have moved from pilot projects to enterprise AI deployments.

APAC messaging app penetration

KEY STATS

106% messaging growth in region

YoY growth

Growth per industry

Omnichannel usage

Establishing overall trends in omnichannel usage for the APAC region is difficult as there is such a diversity of messaging apps with high penetration rates across the different countries, for example 95% for Messenger in the Philippines, 90% for WhatsApp in Malaysia, and 95% for Kakao in South Korea.

Based on the traffic on our platform, we can confidently say that SMS is still the dominant channel in terms of volumes, supported by email, Voice & Video, and then whichever chat app is most popular in the country.

Insights provided by:

Summary

The MENA region has continued to show significant growth in messaging, a trend that we have seen since 2022.

The region has seen rapid digital transformation, driven by evolving consumer behaviors, regulatory changes, and large-scale investments by governments and banks in the region.

The region has also further entrenched its reputation as a growth engine for fintech with a 49% increase in messages on our platform.

5 year messaging growth

TRENDS

UAE OTP ban (July 2025)

As part of the UAE’s digital transformation strategy, the UAE Central Bank has mandated the phasing out OTPs sent via SMS and email due to concerns about phishing, interception risks, and SIM-swapping fraud. The deadline for full discontinuation is March 2026.

Authentication methods that use biometrics or app-based push notifications along with cryptographic tokens and passkeys are being implemented by businesses in the region as a replacement.

Investments in AI infrastructure

MENA governments are investing heavily in AI infrastructure to support digital transformation driven by generative AI and government-backed initiatives for AI data centers and cloud platforms. 

Saudi Arabia’s $15B Humain initiative and the UAE’s AI campus projects aim to position the region as a global AI hub, enabling advanced messaging and personalization capabilities.

Regulatory changes impacting messaging

In Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) has banned local banks from using private messaging applications such as WhatsApp to communicate with customers, due to a spike in related fraud.

SAMA has instructed banks to explore alternative communications channels, such as integrating live chat or chatbot services within their mobile apps or websites.

Rise of Arabic AI models

The rise of Arabic AI models in the MENA region reflects a deliberate push by governments and investors to build technological self‑sufficiency, cultivate home‑grown AI expertise, and accelerate economic diversification in the MENA region.

Strategic funding plays a central role: Saudi Arabia’s Project Transcendence, a $100 billion AI investment initiative, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX Fund Management, also targeting $100 billion in AI investments, illustrate the scale of capital being deployed to accelerate model development and AI infrastructure.

The economic impact is expected to be substantial. AI could contribute up to $320 billion to regional GDP by 2030, driven by productivity gains, new digital services, and improved customer experiences across industries. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are poised for the fastest growth, with AI projected to add 12–14% to their economies by 2030s channels, such as integrating live chat or chatbot services within their mobile apps or websites.

Gamification as a core strategy

In the lead up to the world’s biggest football tournament, regional rights holders and sponsors are using gamification to capture data, grow CRM databases, and drive year-round engagement. Predictor games, fantasy contests, and real-time fan challenges will dominate activations.

KEY STATS

Total 49% increase in messages in 2025

Messaging channel penetration

WhatsApp is the dominant chat app across the MENA region, and this can be seen with continued strong growth.

YoY growth

Growth per industry

Omnichannel usage

Insights provided by:

Summary

Africa is a hugely diverse geographic region made up of 54 sovereign states with very different economic development, rates of urbanization, and even mobile phone ownership.

With our customers primarily active in the economic powerhouses of Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, and East African countries like Kenya and Tanzania, our platform traffic is not fully representative of what is happening on the ground across the entire continent.

While Africa’s messaging landscape shares a common trajectory, regional realities shape execution.

Investments in AI infrastructure

West Africa

SMS and USSD remain key for reach and cost-efficiency, but banks, fintechs, and gaming brands are layering in WhatsApp, voice and email to boost engagement and combat fraud.

In West Africa, most of the traffic still sits on two pillars: secure transactional messaging and customer engagement. Banks, fintechs and gaming companies rely on SMS and USSD for reach and reliability, then layer in WhatsApp, voice and email where it makes sense for authentication, support and richer journeys.

East Africa

The heart of mobile-money ecosystems, where messaging integrates directly with wallets and embedded finance. WhatsApp, SMS and USSD flex dynamically by device, connectivity and income, while AI chatbots personalize support, detect anomalies, and answer questions in real time.

Southern Africa

In South Africa we are seeing brands scale compliant CX programs using WhatsApp, SMS, email and voice – often with AI – to reduce call center load, speed fraud checks, and resolve issues faster.

Messaging app penetration

YoY growth

Growth per industry

Omnichannel usage

Insights provided by:

Summary

With a population of 1.47 billion people and over 1 billion mobile handsets in use, the messaging habits of consumers and businesses in the region have a significant impact on global trends.

We saw this in 2022 when Google decided to disable RCS Business Messaging in the country due to many businesses in the region aggressively exploiting the channel to send unwanted messages. This led to a significant decrease in the global numbers for RCS on our platform.

In 2025 after the Reserve Bank of India announced the phasing out of SMS OTP messages due to security concerns. Banks and payment providers must adopt alternative 2FA methods by April 2026 for domestic transactions and by October 2026 for cross-border payments. This has led to a 20% decrease in SMS messages in India in 2025, and we expect an even more significant drop off during 2026.

TRENDS

High RCS growth in some industries

But overall growth slower than other regions

The estimated RCS user base in India now stands at 550 million, out of a total smartphone base of 750-800 million users.

Increasing end‑user familiarity with RCS has played a role in this growth, as customers are now clearly noticing the shift from traditional black‑and‑white SMS to a richer, more interactive inbox experience with branded messages, images, and buttons.

However, with a 70% penetration rate for WhatsApp there is strong competition and many businesses continue to benchmark RCS performance against WhatsApp, particularly around engagement metrics.

There is also a perception that RCS adoption is slower because it is not a pure peer‑to‑peer (P2P) channel like WhatsApp, and because end‑user awareness of full RCS capabilities is still evolving. Improving education both for brands and consumers remains key to unlocking the channel’s full potential.

RCS does have a strategic advantage as it is telco‑managed, and telcos are incentivized to protect SMS revenues from erosion. Additionally, highly regulated sectors such as Banking and Insurance, which dominate transactional traffic, place strong emphasis on compliance, an area where RCS will be well positioned as SMS OTP messages are phased out in the country.

We have seen consistently high WhatsApp growth over past five years. Overall, there has been 314% growth between 2021 and 2025.

India WhatsApp growth over 5 years

WhatsApp usage is largely driven by broadcast use cases, however, we are also seeing strong adoption of conversational use cases, especially on the customer service side. The overall split is approximately 60:40, with conversational use cases primarily focused on customer support.

WhatsApp Business Calling is also gaining further traction in India, with growing interest from enterprises and partners, particularly where WhatsApp is already a primary engagement channel. We completed several beta projects in 2025,andthere a several POCs active underway across Insurance, Retail, Healthcare, and Auto sectors.

Messaging app penetration

Channel YoY growth

Growth per industry

Omnichannel usage

Insights provided by: