Airtel and Google have reunited to launch RCS messaging in India providing richer SMS options, enhanced spam safety and a brand new revenue-sharing mannequin set to remodel the nation’s cell communication ecosystem.
Printed: December 8, 2025 4:13 PM IST
Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel has re-partnered with Google to launch Wealthy Communication Providers (RCS) messaging on its community. The telco’s choice to allow RCS, which it had shied away from over a yr in the past, may mark a major shift in messaging and SMS use in India.
In a press release to the press, Airtel stated that it has restarted its collaboration with Google to carry RCS messaging, with a particular deal with safety and security for its customers. The announcement is a change of coronary heart for Airtel, which had cited spam as a key purpose for its preliminary resistance to RCS. It had additionally filed a plea with the telecom regulator in 2019 to carry OTT over-the-top (OTT) communication providers underneath anti-spam legal guidelines.
What’s New within the Airtel-Google Deal?
Airtel stated in its announcement that Google will combine RCS messaging with its “clever spam filter” platform, and “solely messages that go the filter shall be delivered.” This requirement has doubtless been added to deal with Airtel’s earlier issues concerning spam and abuse in RCS communication.
Enterprise Mannequin Particulars: Who’s Paying Whom?
Airtel has stated that it’s going to cost ₹0.11 per RCS message, and income shall be cut up 80: 20 in favour of Airtel and Google respectively. The worth level was doubtless factored to make RCS extra aggressive with common SMS, however on the identical time monetisable and managed by the service – versus the present SMS pricing, which is capped at ₹0.12 by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
RCS in India: The Wider Image
With all of the three largest Indian telcos now signed up for RCS (the others being Reliance Jio and Vodafone Concept), the business has made a transparent dedication to the next-gen normal. Consultants now anticipate RCS interconnect offers amongst telecom operators, as interoperability shall be key to an entire “off-net” RCS person expertise (i.e., seamless message alternate between customers on totally different networks).
Trying on the Greater Image
In most components of the world, RCS has been a typical pushed by the business physique GSMA since 2007 as a successor normal to the outdated SMS protocol. RCS has many options that we’ve come to anticipate from messaging apps, together with the power to ship high-quality photographs and movies, group messages, learn receipts, typing indicators, and so forth. It’s due to this fact rather more consistent with trendy messaging expectations than SMS, whereas being carrier-controlled.
Globally, RCS has had a sluggish and stuttering uptake, as totally different carriers have been at odds about how one can implement and commercialise RCS, and since OTT apps like WhatsApp successfully bypassed the carriers solely. Google’s try to nudge RCS adoption alongside in 2019 – by making the service accessible as a part of its personal Google Messages app – was the most important single growth that the RCS normal has seen lately. Google first rolled out RCS for the service within the UK and France markets.
For India, Google and Airtel’s renewed partnership and said dedication to RCS signifies that the trail is now clear for full RCS rollout within the nation. Customers will profit from a extra cross-platform, feature-rich messaging channel (with out essentially needing to put in third-party apps), whereas telcos can profit from a income stream separate from SMS – and extra management over messaging visitors circulate.
