Roll-out of an AI-powered, safer rich messaging experience in India
March 1, 2026, New Delhi (India): Bharti Airtel, one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, and Google have announced a collaboration to offer a secure and engaging messaging experience for millions of users in India. By combining Airtel’s network intelligence with Google’s Rich Communications Services (RCS) platform and spam filtering, users get to experience RCS messaging with high-quality photo/video and interactive elements like message reactions, all while benefiting from enhanced protections that significantly reduce mobile spam and digital fraud.
Over the last 1.5 years, Airtel has led India’s fight against spam and digital fraud through a series of industry-first, AI-powered initiatives aimed at protecting customers across calls and messages. Proving a track record in protecting customers, Airtel has, to date, through all its innovative spam fighting initiatives, blocked a staggering 71 billion spam calls and 2.9 billion spam SMSes that has led to a huge 68.7% decrease in the value of financial losses on its network.
A critical protection gap however continues to exist within the digital ecosystem. While traditional mobile networks that offer messaging operate under safety standards and telco-grade safeguards, many other non-telco communication platforms and standalone apps lack these safeguards. These channels have therefore increasingly been exploited by sophisticated bad actors, becoming common tools for financial fraud and invasive spam.
This innovative partnership between Airtel and Google is designed to bridge that gap, extending the accountability of telecom-grade safeguards to the modern messaging experience. By integrating Airtel’s intelligence into the RCS platform and Google’s existing spam protections, the companies are setting a new benchmark for a secure carrier-backed messaging service.
Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman – Bharti Airtel, said, “At Airtel, we are obsessed with customer protection and continue to be at the forefront to lead India’s fight against spam. We do this by harnessing data, intelligent networks and relentless innovations so our customers are protected end-to-end. In a pioneering initiative, we have now partnered with Google to extend customer protection beyond the telco domain and made the rich messaging platform safer and more secure. We now call on the broader OTT communication platforms to work with us and make sure that customers are protected from the spam and financial fraud menace.”
Sameer Samat, President, Android Ecosystem at Google, said, “This pioneering partnership in India with Airtel helps ensure that mobile users can communicate with confidence. We are committed to continuing to work with the broader ecosystem of carriers to standardize messaging security and create a consistent and trusted messaging experience for all RCS messaging users around the world.”
Brands leveraging the messaging service for enterprise communications will be able to foster trust amongst their customers by enabling them to easily distinguish legitimate business messages from spam and stay protected from potential risks that may emerge in other messaging platforms without these stringent checks. The solution will enable brands to build deeper engagement with their customers who will feel safer and in more control. This will, in turn, lead to enduring customer relationships which are imperative for business growth and success.
The platform will offer stringent real-time checks to:
The messages sent through the RCS messaging service platform can be directly viewed in Google Messages, available on most Android phones.
Airtel and Google’s collaboration represents a world-first example of how telecom service providers (TSPs) and global technology platforms can work together to apply analogous safety, verification, and accountability measures to OTT messaging — measures that have long existed in telecom networks.
This joint initiative by Airtel and Google serves as a blueprint for the industry, demonstrating how deeper collaboration can significantly enhance customer protection. By combining telco-grade verification with platform-level intelligence, the messaging service platform enables shared, AI- driven checks across sender authentication, customer consent and real-time threat detection to create safer digital networks in India.
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About Bharti Airtel
Headquartered in India, Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with over 600 million customers in 15 countries across India and Africa. The company also has its presence in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka through its associate entities. The company ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally and its networks cover over two billion people. Airtel is India’s largest integrated communications solutions provider and the second largest mobile operator in Africa. Airtel’s retail portfolio includes high-speed 4G/5G mobile, Wi-Fi (FTTH+ FWA) that promises speeds up to 1 Gbps with convergence across linear and on-demand entertainment, video streaming services, digital payments and financial services. For enterprise customers, Airtel offers a gamut of solutions that includes secure connectivity, cloud and data centre services, cyber security, IoT, and cloud-based communication. Airtel’s digital arm – Xtelify, empowers telcos globally to leverage the power of AI, data and technology to accelerate their digital transformation and drive growth. Xtelify also offers Airtel Cloud in India enabling enterprises with a sovereign, telco-grade cloud platform that guarantees secure migration, effortless scaling, lower costs and no vendor lock-ins. Within its diversified portfolio, Airtel also offers passive infrastructure services through its subsidiary Indus Tower Ltd. For more details visit www.airtel.com