Airtel, Google Cloud team up to ramp up cloud adoption and GenAI in India

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel and Google Cloud have announced a long-term partnership today to provide cutting-edge cloud solutions to businesses in India. This collaboration aims to speed up cloud adoption and modernisation for Airtel's extensive customer base, Airtel states in a filing exchange.

Under this partnership, Airtel will offer Google Cloud's advanced cloud solutions to its customers, including over 2,000 large enterprises and one million emerging businesses. Notably, the domestic cloud services market is projected to reach $17.8 billion by 2027, according to IDC.

The collaboration will leverage the strengths of both companies in connectivity and AI technology to develop industry-leading AI/ML solutions. These solutions will be trained using Airtel's vast data set.

The offerings include geospatial analytics for trend-spotting, predictive capabilities, and market assessment, as well as voice analytics for conversational applications in multiple languages.

“These unique solutions will drive greater value to Airtel’s customers and will include geospatial analytics solutions with advanced location intelligence for trend-spotting, predictive capabilities, market assessment, site selection, risk management, and asset tracking; voice analytics solutions for superior conversational applications trained across languages; and marketing technology solutions to forecast consumer behaviour, perform tailored audience segmentations, and streamline content creation with high-precision contextual ads at reduced costs,” Airtel states in an exchange filing.

“Airtel will also leverage Google Cloud’s gen AI capabilities to transform its customer experiences and interactions across its offerings of mobile, broadband, and digital TV, and to streamline its internal processes and operations. Airtel will also extend these capabilities to its B2B customers in India and globally,” the telecom giant adds.

Airtel has also developed an end-to-end IoT (Internet of Things) solution for the utility sector, combining connectivity, Google Cloud services, and application software for seamless deployment. To support its cloud-based solutions business, Airtel has established a managed services centre in Pune with over 300 experts trained in Google Cloud services.

Gopal Vittal, Bharti Airtel's managing director & CEO, says, “As India accelerates its digital transformation, cutting-edge cloud and AI solutions will be at the heart and centre of this change. We are happy to partner with Google Cloud and jointly address this market opportunity with secure and scalable Cloud solutions for government, enterprises, and emerging businesses. Together, we will also accelerate the deployment of gen AI in the country and unlock its potential to solve problems.”

Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, states, “Our strategic collaboration with Airtel marks a significant milestone towards our commitment to accelerate cloud and AI adoption in India. Through this partnership, we aim to explore and build transformative solutions that can enhance Airtel’s customer experiences.”