Bharti Airtel, the second-largest telecom operator in India, went ahead with RCS (Rich Communication Services) from Google recently, as per reports. This marks a singificant shift from the telco's stance of not adopting RCS due to spam concerns. RCS is a separate layer of encrypted communication as compared to what the telcos offer. So when Jio partnered with Apple for enabling RCS, it was asked why is Airtel not doing the same? Airtel's stance on this was that since RCS would not have its own spam protection tools, then it can lead to spam for its users.
For the unaware, Airtel has deployed its own spam protection feature on its networks to offer seamless experience to its customers. But now, Airtel has reportedly partnered with Google to offer RCS communication to its customers. So this is an interesting turn of events, and this also begs the question, why is Airtel doing this with Google now?
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Airtel's Reason to Work with Google Now
Airtel said that it is working with Google closesly to ensure that all the RCS communication goes through its own AI based spam filter. Only once this is implemented, the telco would completely onboard Google for RCS.
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Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea already allow RCS communication. Jio also allows its customers to have RCS on iPhones as well. RCS is a GSMA standard communication technology. When it comes to IUC (interconnect usage charge), then that has to be discussed between the telcos themselves. Google is just a service provider here. RCS's ultimate aim is to replace the SMS and was introduced quite a while back in 2007.
Google Messages has driven the adoption of RCS globally, and now, Airtel's entry to the scene would only amplify things further.
