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MetroPCS widens Rich Communications Services to all North American carriers

There's been a degree of irony to MetroPCS' support for Rich Communication Services when it's been limited to the one carrier's network in the US -- where's that universal chat and sharing we were promised? The carrier plans to live up to those lofty expectations with word that its Jibe Mobile-developed Joyn service will talk to devices on any North American carrier that supports the spec. That currently doesn't equate to ubiquitous access when RCS isn't widespread, but it's a start. We'll just have to wait for the expanded service to deploy later this year, and for more hardware to hit the streets.

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MetroPCS and Jibe Mobile to Open Rich Communications Services to All North American Wireless Subscribers

Jibe's Global Communications Cloud Enables joyn™ by MetroPCS Subscribers to Invite Friends on Any Network in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. to Share and Experience Enriched Mobile Services

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS) and Jibe Mobile (www.jibemobile.com), the Silicon Valley cloud-based global communications provider, today announced that Jibe's Global Communications Cloud will enable MetroPCS subscribers to connect with friends and family across any network in North America using the unified and intuitive features of Rich Communication Services (RCS).

joyn™ is a certification trade mark of the GSMA and the consumer facing-brand for Rich Communication Services. When consumers see the joyn brand they will know that the device is RCS enabled, which means it automatically 'knows and shows' ways to share with contacts via chat, video, call or files, at any moment in time, regardless of the network or device used.

Last year, MetroPCS became the first U.S. mobile operator to offer RCS 5.0 services on a 4G LTE network under the joyn brand and has now joined leading global operators in receiving provisional GSMA joyn accreditation.

"Our goal with joyn by MetroPCS was to give consumers a new intuitive and unified communications experience and we are excited about the potential that now exists, through Jibe, for subscribers outside the MetroPCS network to adopt and experience the full range of features and services made possible by RCS," said Roger Linquist , CEO and Chairman, MetroPCS. "We are committed to working with operators and over-the-top providers to demonstrate the benefits of joyn, ensure that true interoperability from any device and carrier is achieved and ultimately see mass adoption of RCS services on a scale similar to SMS or text services."

Jibe enables subscribers to invite contacts in their address books who are on any North American network to download a joyn™-compliant client onto their phone, tablet, or device and begin connecting with enriched services like Wi-Fi calling and video calling, enhanced instant messaging or chat and simplified content sharing. The downloadable client helps bridge the interoperability gap and address the fundamental challenge of mass adoption by enabling carriers that have yet to deploy RCS to offer joyn's enriched features to their subscribers.

"MetroPCS' adoption of Jibe Mobile is a major step forward in advancing our commitment to help bridge the worlds of traditional standards-based telecommunications and Silicon Valley-style rapid application development to let carriers and developers connect, and ultimately enhance, the experience of mobile consumer and business subscribers around the world," said Amir Sarhangi , CEO, Jibe Mobile.

Services are expected to rollout later this year.