Airtel-Google partnership returns as RCS messaging rolls out nationwide

Airtel and Google have reunited to launch RCS messaging in India offering richer SMS features, enhanced spam protection and a new revenue-sharing model set to transform the country’s mobile communication ecosystem.

Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel has re-partnered with Google to launch Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging on its network. The telco’s decision to enable RCS, which it had shied away from over a year ago, could mark a significant shift in messaging and SMS use in India.

In a statement to the press, Airtel said that it has restarted its collaboration with Google to bring RCS messaging, with a specific focus on security and safety for its users. The announcement is a change of heart for Airtel, which had cited spam as a key reason for its initial resistance to RCS. It had also filed a plea with the telecom regulator in 2019 to bring OTT over-the-top (OTT) communication services under anti-spam laws.

What’s New in the Airtel-Google Deal?

Airtel said in its announcement that Google will integrate RCS messaging with its “intelligent spam filter” platform, and “only messages that pass the filter will be delivered.” This requirement has likely been added to address Airtel’s earlier concerns regarding spam and abuse in RCS communication.

Business Model Details: Who’s Paying Whom?

Airtel has said that it will charge ₹0.11 per RCS message, and revenue will be split 80: 20 in favour of Airtel and Google respectively. The price point was likely factored to make RCS more competitive with regular SMS, but at the same time monetisable and controlled by the carrier – as opposed to the current SMS pricing, which is capped at ₹0.12 by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

RCS in India: The Wider Picture

With all the three largest Indian telcos now signed up for RCS (the others being Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea), the industry has made a clear commitment to the next-gen standard. Experts now expect RCS interconnect deals among telecom operators, as interoperability will be key to a complete “off-net” RCS user experience (i.e., seamless message exchange between users on different networks).

Looking at the Bigger Picture

In most parts of the world, RCS has been a standard driven by the industry body GSMA since 2007 as a successor standard to the old SMS protocol. RCS has many features that we’ve come to expect from messaging apps, including the ability to send high-quality images and videos, group messages, read receipts, typing indicators, and so on. It is therefore much more in line with modern messaging expectations than SMS, while being carrier-controlled.

Globally, RCS has had a slow and stuttering uptake, as different carriers have been at odds about how to implement and commercialise RCS, and because OTT apps like WhatsApp effectively bypassed the carriers entirely. Google’s attempt to nudge RCS adoption along in 2019 – by making the service available as part of its own Google Messages app – was the biggest single development that the RCS standard has seen in recent years. Google first rolled out RCS for the service in the UK and France markets.

For India, Google and Airtel’s renewed partnership and stated commitment to RCS means that the path is now clear for full RCS rollout in the country. Users will benefit from a more cross-platform, feature-rich messaging channel (without necessarily needing to install third-party apps), while telcos can benefit from a revenue stream separate from SMS – and more control over messaging traffic flow.