Google looks set to tackle longstanding RCS spam in India – but not alone

As persistent spam complaints have hampered Google’s Rich Communication Services (RCS) push in India, the company is starting to integrate deep pockets to improve security on the platform.

On Sunday, Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest mobile operator with over 463 million subscribers, said it has partnered with Google to integrate the carrier’s internet browsing into the country’s RCS ecosystem. The move is aimed at strengthening protection against spam and fraud on the platform, the companies said.

India has said it emerged as a very difficult market of spam and fraud on text messaging systems, driven by the country’s high number of mobile phone users, the rapid rise of digital payments, and aggressive corporate marketing practices. In 2022, complaints about unsolicited advertising on Google’s RCS – delivered primarily through the Google Messages app – were key to getting the company to create it. temporarily suspend business promotions on the platform in India. However, some users keep saying the frustration and spam messages on Google Messages, that is the story is not really over.

Airtel said it was cautious about connecting deeply with Google’s RCS until traffic could be controlled by its spam control measures, citing concerns among stakeholders about rising fraud threats.

“We did not log into Google because we wanted RCS messages to be sent through Airtel’s spam filter,” Airtel said.

Under the agreement, Airtel’s online intelligence will be integrated with Google’s RCS platform to enable real-time monitoring of business communications, including sender verification, spam detection, and user preferences that are not disruptive. Airtel said the move was a “world’s first” to include spam filtering for a telecom operator on a premium platform, though the companies did not provide specific details.

“We are committed to continuing to work closely with the ecosystem’s carriers to create consistent and reliable messaging for RCS users around the world,” Sameer Samat, president of the Android ecosystem at Google, said in a statement. The statement suggests that the company may look to expand the brand beyond India as it helps establish safety in the RCS environment.

India represents Google’s most challenging messaging market, with over one billion internet users and over 700 million mobile users. This country is also their home more than 853 million WhatsApp usersAccording to the World Population Review, it emphasizes the growing competition for mobile messaging.

Prabhu Ram, vice president of industry research at CyberMedia Research, said the deep integration reflects long-standing efforts in an ecosystem plagued by spam and fraud.

“The success of this partnership should be reflected in metrics such as the reduction of spam, user complaints, and fraudulent activity, as well as changes in compliance with legitimate communications,” Ram told TechCrunch.

Airtel has been there to promote its anti-spam services in the past year, saying its AI-driven systems have blocked more than 71 billion calls and 2.9 billion spam messages, contributing to a nearly 69% reduction in fraud-related financial losses on its network.

In general, Google has been positioning RCS as a successor to SMS, stating in May 2025 that the standard will be implemented. more than a billion messages every day in the USbased on an average of 28 days.

Google did not say whether a similar carrier integration is planned for other markets or provide an indication of how much the migration will reduce spam and fraud.