20-year analysis reveals shift to RCS and AI-driven communication

Infobip reveals a shift in UK business communication, with RCS and Agentic AI enabling richer, conversational experiences 

Skip to table of contents

London, 15 April 2026 – New research from AI-first cloud communications platform Infobip shows that the era of simple, one-way notifications is over. Drawing on data from 628 billion mobile interactions in 2025 and 3.8 trillion messages over the past 20 years, Infobip’s Messaging Trends Report 2026 uncovers how UK businesses’ interactions with customers have shifted. 

Infobip’s research reveals that the market is moving towards rich, conversational channels. RCS penetration in the UK has reached 70%, partially fuelled by security concerns on other channels. With rising “smishing” attacks, verified sender markers on RCS are critical for maintaining consumer trust. 

While SMS remains a consistent, reliable channel, accounting for 62% of global traffic and growing 27% in the UK, RCS (Rich Communication Services) adoption has skyrocketed in the UK, recording a 174% increase in traffic year-on-year. 

The report also found that reliance on a single communication method is in serious decline. Ten years ago, 73% of platform traffic was single channel, but by 2025, this dropped to just 2.3%. Nearly 98% of interactions now span multiple channels. 

WhatsApp remains dominant, with 85% penetration in the UK, 5x growth year on year. At the same time, Agentic AI has emerged as the next frontier for UK businesses. Moving beyond simple chatbots, AI agents can now orchestrate autonomous, goal-driven customer journeys across WhatsApp, RCS, and Email. 


Our 20-year dataset makes it clear that the age of single-channel engagement is over. The UK market has shifted towards a diverse ecosystem where brands orchestrate conversations across WhatsApp, RCS, Email, and Voice. In future, engagement will be omnichannel, conversational and increasingly powered by Agentic AI. Businesses understand the necessity to meet customers on the channels they use daily, creating conversational and personal experiences which build trust.”

James Stokes

Head of Enterprise for UK & Nordics

For more, see the full Messaging Trends Report 2026 here. 

About Infobip

Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected experiences across all stages of the customer journey, with AI as the driving force of innovation. Through a single, natively built platform, Infobip delivers omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication and contact centre solutions that help businesses and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications while driving growth and increasing customer loyalty. Infobip is focused on enabling and accelerating AI adoption as it continues its transformation into an AI-first company. Infobip’s technology has the capacity to reach over seven billion mobile devices in 6 continents connected to over 10k+ connections of which 800+ are direct operator connections. The company was established in 2006 and is led by its co-founders, CEO Silvio Kutić and Izabel Jelenić. 

Recent award wins include:

  • Infobip recognized as a growth and innovation leader in Frost Radar™: Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) by Frost & Sullivan (Oct 2025) 
  • Infobip ranked as the number one Established Leader in the Juniper Research Mobile Messaging Fraud Prevention Market report (Sept 2025) 
  • Infobip named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) for the third consecutive year. In 2025, positioned furthest in Completeness of Vision (July 2025) 
  • Infobip named among Top 75 in Fortune’s Europe’s Most Innovative Companies 2025, placing it in the top 25% of all listed organizations (June 2025) 
  • Infobip ranked as a Leader in the Omdia CPaaS Universe Report for the third time (April 2025) 
  • Infobip ranked an Established Leader in the Juniper Research Conversational AI Leaderboard (Feb 2025) 
  • Infobip named a CPaaS Leader for the third time in the IDC MarketScape (Feb 2025) 
  • Infobip named one of the top CPaaS providers in Metrigy’s CPaaS MetriRank Report (Dec 2024)  
  • Infobip named number one among Established Leaders in RCS Business Messaging in Juniper Research’s RCS Business Messaging Competitor Leaderboard 2024 (Nov 2024)  
  • Infobip recognized as the number one provider in the AIT Fraud Prevention market by Juniper Research (Oct 2024) 
  • Infobip named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies (March 2024)