Tag: Bharti Airtel

Business World

Airtel and Qualcomm to collaborate for 5G in India

Feb 23, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #accelerating 5G in India, #Airtel 5G solutions, #Bharti Airtel, #CTO, #Randeep Sekhon

Hyderabad: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced their collaboration for accelerating 5G in India. Recently, Airtel became India’s first telco to demonstrate 5G over a LIVE commercial network in the city of Hyderabad.

Through Airtel’s network vendors and device partners, Airtel will utilize the Qualcomm® 5G RAN Platforms to roll-out virtualized and Open RAN-based 5G networks. Airtel, as a board member of the O-RAN Alliance, is committed to driving the success of O-RAN and is working with Qualcomm Technologies to explore and implement the O-RAN approach for India. The flexible and scalable architecture of O-RAN will create new opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses to become viable players in the deployment of 5G networks.

In addition, Airtel and Qualcomm Technologies will collaborate to enable a wide array of use cases, including 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) that is designed to deliver broadband connectivity at Gigabit speeds to homes and businesses. This collaboration also aims to allow a faster rollout of broadband services in a cost effective and expeditious manner across India for “last mile” connectivity challenges that are becoming increasingly important in today’s remote, mobile-first society.

Airtel 5G solutions including FWA services will be able to deliver multi-gigabit internet speeds wirelessly to customers and open up a wide range of innovations. For customers, the ultra-fast and low latency of 5G will unlock a digital world of limitless possibilities – gigabit size file downloads in seconds and 4K video streaming on the go across smartphones and computing devices, Immersive Technologies such as Virtual Reality and SMART Homes with connected things.

Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel said, “Airtel has been a pioneer of new technologies and our networks are fully ready for 5G. We are delighted to have Qualcomm Technologies as a key technology provider in our journey to roll-out world-class 5G in India. With Airtel’s integrated service portfolio and Qualcomm Technologies’ 5G leadership, we will be well placed to usher India into the next era of hyper-fast and ultra-low latency digital connectivity.”

Rajen Vagadia, Vice President, QUALCOMM India Private Limited and President, Qualcomm India said, “There is a compelling case to accelerate the roll-out of 5G networks in India, as it will help fast-track the country’s socio-economic growth and development. We are pleased to be working with Airtel, and we are excited by the opportunity ahead. This collaboration is expected to play a critical role in Airtel’s plans to add 5G network coverage and capacity where and when it is needed the most.”

Qualcomm® 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform supports virtually any combination of 5G spectrum bands and modes, from extended-range high power sub-6 to extended-range mmWave. The portfolio of Qualcomm 5G RAN platforms aim to deliver cutting-edge technology for virtualized, flexible and interoperable 5G infrastructure. Through Airtel’s network vendors and device partners, Airtel will utilize the capabilities of these platforms for accelerating the development of 5G applications for Industry 4.0 use cases and for driving innovations for Airtel’s global operations.

About Bharti Airtel

Headquartered in India, Airtel is a global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally and its mobile network covers a population of over two billion people. Airtel is India’s largest integrated telecom provider and the second largest mobile operator in Africa. At the end of December 2020, Airtel had approx. 458 million customers across its operations. Airtel’s portfolio includes high speed 4G/4.5G mobile broadband, Airtel Xstream Fiber that promises speeds up to 1Gbps, converged digital TV solutions through the Airtel Xstream 4K Hybrid Box, digital payments through Airtel Payments Bank as well as an integrated suite of services across connectivity, collaboration, cloud and security that serves over one million businesses. Airtel’s OTT services include Airtel Thanks app for self-care, Airtel Xstream app for video, Wynk Music for entertainment and Airtel BlueJeans for video conferencing. In addition, Airtel has forged strategic partnerships with hundreds of companies across the world to enable the Airtel platform to deliver an array of consumer and enterprise services.

About Qualcomm
Qualcomm is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. When we connected the phone to the internet, the mobile revolution was born. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.
Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business.

Business World

Airtel to acquire 20% stake in Bharti Telemedia from Warburg Pincus

Feb 18, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Bharti Airtel, #Digital communications Company, #Managing Director and Head of Warburg Pincus India, #Vishal Mahadevia

New Delhi/ Hyderabad: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier Digital communications Company, today said that it will acquire a Warburg Pincus affiliate’s 20% equity stake in its DTH arm Bharti Telemedia for a total consideration of ~ INR 31,260 million which will be discharged primarily via issuance of ~36.47 million equity shares of Airtel at a price of INR 600 per share; and up to INR 10,378 million in cash. The issuance of shares proposed through preferential allotment is subject to shareholders’ approval.

The proposed transaction is part of Airtel’s strategy to align the shareholding of its customer facing products, services and businesses under the same holding group. A full control and ownership over Bharti Telemedia allows Airtel to offer differentiated and converged solutions to customers so as to promote “One Home” strategy.

Harjeet Kohli, Group Director, Bharti Enterprises said, “DTH is an integral part of our Homes strategy and this transaction is another step towards simplifying the shareholding of our customer facing businesses providing structural flexibility and ease of implementation. Airtel has always enjoyed a close and strategic partnership with Warburg Pincus, across its business verticals and geographies and we are delighted to have them back as part of Airtel’s exciting journey ahead, including in digital businesses.”

Airtel will issue its shares to the Warburg Pincus affiliate at a premium of ~0.50% to the floor price determined as per ICDR regulations. The remaining consideration of ~ INR 9,378 million shall be paid in cash on the closing date of the proposed transaction. There may also be minor customary closing adjustments not exceeding INR 1,000 million.

Vishal Mahadevia, Managing Director and Head of Warburg Pincus India said, “Airtel was one of the earliest and most profitable investments for Warburg Pincus in India. We are delighted to be back as partners in Bharti Airtel through this transaction. We look forward to capitalising on the broad-based growth that the company is witnessing across its entire portfolio of businesses, including the digital build-outs.”

In December 2017, a Warburg Pincus affiliate agreed to acquire 20% equity stake in Bharti Telemedia Limited, the DTH arm of Airtel.

Citigroup Global Markets India Private Limited (“Citi”) acted as the financial advisor to Airtel and Credit Suisse Securities (India) Private Limited acted as advisors to Warburg Pincus in connection with this transaction.

Business World

Airtel Announces 5G Ready Network

Jan 28, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #5G innovation, #Bharti Airtel, #LIVE 5G service

Hyderabad/New Delhi, January 28, 2021: In a major landmark, Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, announced that it has become the country’s first telco to successfully demonstrate & orchestrate LIVE 5G service over a commercial network in Hyderabad city.

Airtel did this over its existing liberalised spectrum in the 1800 MHz band through the NSA (Non Stand Alone) network technology. Using a first of its kind, dynamic spectrum sharing, Airtel seamlessly operated 5G and 4G concurrently within the same spectrum block. This demonstration has emphatically validated the 5G readiness of Airtel’s network across all domains – Radio, Core and Transport.

Airtel 5G is capable of delivering 10x speeds, 10x latency and 100x concurrency when compared to existing technologies. Specifically, in Hyderabad, users were able to download a full length movie in a matter of seconds on a 5G phone. This demonstration has underlined the company’s technology capabilities. The full impact of the 5G experience, however, will be available to our customers, when adequate spectrum is available and government approvals received.

Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO, Bharti Airtel said: “I am very proud of our engineers who have worked tirelessly to showcase this incredible capability in Tech City, Hyderabad today. Every one of our investments is future proofed as this game changing test in Hyderabad proves. With Airtel being the first operator to demonstrate this capability, we have shown again that we have always been the first in India to pioneer new technologies in our quest for empowering Indians everywhere.”

“We believe India has the potential to become a global hub for 5G innovation. To make that happen we need the eco system to come together – applications, devices and network innovation. We are more than ready to do our bit.” added Gopal Vittal.

Business World

Launch of ‘Airtel Safe Pay’ – India’s safest way to pay digitally

Jan 21, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Adarsh Nair, #Airtel Payments Bank, #Airtel Safe Pay, #Anubrata Biswas, #Bharti Airtel, #Chief Product Officer, #MD & CEO

Hyderabad: To protect Airtel customers from the growing incidents of online payment frauds, Airtel Payments Bank today launched ‘Airtel Safe Pay’ – India’s safest mode for making digital payments.

With ‘Airtel Safe Pay’, Airtel customers making UPI or Netbanking based payments through Airtel Payments Bank, no longer have to worry about money leaving their accounts without their explicit consent.

An India-First innovation, ‘Airtel Safe Pay’ leverages Airtel’s ‘telco exclusive’ strength of network intelligence to provide an additional layer of payment validation compared to the industry norm of two-factor authentication. This offers the highest level of protection from potential frauds such as phishing, stolen credentials or passwords, and even phone cloning that catches customers unaware.  For details https://www.airtel.in/bank/safe-pay

Anubrata Biswas, MD & CEO, Airtel Payments Bank says, “As digital payments become the norm, especially in the post-pandemic world, we also have to solve for the challenge of frauds that are growing rapidly. We are happy to leverage Airtel’s core telco strengths to bring to market this unique capability that ensures that our customers have full control over their transactions. This sets a new benchmark in the Indian digital payments space by making security paramount.”

Using ‘Airtel Safe Pay’, Airtel Payments Bank customers can make secure digital payments across millions of merchants, online retailers and utilities, and even send money. Customers can open an Airtel Payments Bank account within few minutes with just a video call from the Airtel Thanks app and enjoy a range of benefits while they make fully secure digital payments.

Says Adarsh Nair, Chief Product Officer, Bharti Airtel: “Airtel Safe Pay is yet another innovation where our secure network and world-class digital platforms combine to solve a unique market problem. At Airtel, we are taking the lead in offering the most secure digital payments platforms to our users and making sure that the customer is always in control without a worry about rogue transactions.”

Airtel Safe Pay’ is completely free of charge and can be activated through Airtel Thanks app home screen or from the banking section in few easy steps. Watch how ‘Airtel Safe Pay’ works – https://youtu.be/UhpfjBjFcvk.

Business World

Airtel Xstream Fiber launches the Gigabit Wi-Fi Experience

Jan 15, 2021 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Airtel Xstream Fiber, #Bharti Airtel, #CEO – Homes, #Vir Inder Nath

Hyderabad: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications services provider, has kicked off the New Year with some exciting news for customers with the launch of hyper-fast Wi-Fi experience.

Airtel Xstream Fiber customers can now enjoy 1 Gbps data speeds over Wi-Fi and no longer have to be constrained by a dedicated LAN cable. The Airtel Xstream Fiber Rs 3999 plan now comes with a complimentary 1 Gbps Wi-Fi router to go with unlimited data quota and massive bundled content.

The highly advanced 4×4 Wi-Fi router, will enable seamless 1 Gbps Wi-Fi coverage across Homes and Small Offices. This will unlock a great experience for online gaming and animation and for work or study from home with large number of concurrently connected devices. Small Offices will be able to deploy multiple high speed connections for applications such as stock trading and online collaboration that requires reliable high speed connectivity with zero downtime.

Says Vir Inder Nath, CEO – Homes, Bharti Airtel: “Reliable high speed connectivity is a lifeline in today’s digital first world and Airtel is proud to be at the forefront of India’s broadband revolution. A key ask from our customers was liberation from the LAN cable to enjoy the 1Gbps experience and we are delighted to make that happen.”

Airtel Xstream Fiber’s 1 Gbps broadband plan at Rs 3999 also comes with a complimentary Airtel Xstream Box that offers 550 TV channels and OTT content from the Airtel Xstream app library that includes over 10,000 movies & shows aggregated across 7 OTT apps and 5 studios. It offers subscription to premier video streaming apps such as Amazon Prime Video and ZEE5, all accessible through the Airtel Xstream Box.

Airtel is India’s largest private sector broadband service provider with presence in over 150 cities.

Business World

Amazon and Airtel in Exclusive Partnership to launch Amazon Prime Video Mobile Edition in India

Jan 14, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Amazon, #Bharti Airtel, #Chief Marketing Officer, #Director, #Mobile Business Development, #Sameer Batra, #Shashwat Sharma

Hyderabad: Accelerating its efforts to increase access to high-quality entertainment for every Indian, Amazon today introduced Prime Video Mobile Edition – a mobile-only plan at an amazing introductory price of ₹89. India becomes the first Amazon Prime country in the world to offer customers a mobile-only Prime Video plan. Powered by affordable data, the ubiquitous smartphone has become the country’s preferred screen for entertainment. Prime Video Mobile Edition is a single-user mobile-only plan, providing SD quality streaming to customers which is created especially for a mobile-first country like India. Prime Video is collaborating with Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, for the first roll-out of Prime Video Mobile Edition.

As part of the Prime Video Mobile Edition launch in India, all Airtel customers on bundled pre-paid packs can avail a 30-day free trial by simply signing up to Amazon from the Airtel Thanks app using their mobile number. After the 30 day-free trial, Airtel customers can continue to enjoy Prime Video Mobile Edition through pre-paid recharges starting at an introductory offer of ₹89, to get 28-days of Prime Video Mobile Edition along with 6GB data or choose a ₹299 pack of 28-day validity that includes Prime Video Mobile Edition along with unlimited calls, data access of 1.5 GB per day.

Customers who want to get the complete Prime Video experience including multi-user access, streaming across devices including Smart TV and the ability to enjoy content in HD/UHD in addition to having access to all Prime benefits including ad-free music with Prime Music and free fast delivery on Amazon.in, Prime Reading and other Prime benefits, will have the option of recharging with a 30-day Amazon Prime membership at ₹131 or recharge with a ₹349 pack of 28-day validity that includes Amazon Prime membership along unlimited calling, data access of 2 GB per day.

The recharges will be available on the Airtel Thanks app or at over a million recharge points across the country. These offerings provide unlimited access to Prime Video’s entire entertainment content library and empowers the customer with even more choices and options to access Prime Video.

Talking about the launch, Jay Marine, Vice President, Amazon Prime Video Worldwide, said: “India is one of our fastest growing territories in the world with very high engagement rates. Buoyed by this response, we want to double-down by offering our much-loved entertainment content to an even larger base of Indian customers. Given high mobile broadband penetration in the country, the mobile phone has become one of the most widely used streaming devices. With the launch of Prime Video Mobile Edition we look forward to entertaining every Indian with our Exclusive and Original content.”
Gaurav Gandhi, Director and Country General Manager, Amazon Prime Video India said: “Over the last 4 years, Prime Video has become the country’s most loved premium streaming service with viewership coming from over 4,300 towns and cities. We believe that the Mobile Edition plan will further accelerate Prime Video’s adoption in India and allow an even larger number of customers to access our popular entertainment content. This initiative for Amazon, is designed not just to give customers more choice (of plans) but also easy access to subscribe to Prime Video along with mobile data plans. We are happy to collaborate with Airtel as our first partner in India for Prime Video Mobile Edition.”

Shashwat Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, Bharti Airtel said, “At Airtel, we are deeply passionate about delivering a differentiated experience to our customers through our Airtel Thanks program. We are happy to partner with Amazon to democratize quality digital entertainment in India by leveraging Airtel’s core strengths of quality customers, deep distribution and best-in-class network for video.”

Speaking on the collaboration with Airtel, Sameer Batra, Director, Mobile Business Development, Amazon, “We are delighted to have Airtel as our first roll-out partner for Prime Video Mobile Edition. This collaboration marks the deepening of the strategic association between Amazon and Airtel. Smartphones powered by pre-paid connections and affordable data are ubiquitous to a large base of Indian customers – Mobile Edition will make Prime Video synonymous to quality entertainment for this large customer group. We look forward to expanding the reach of our service to the entire pre-paid customer base in India.”

Business World

NSIC and Airtel join forces to accelerate Digital Transformation of Indian MSMEs

Jan 11, 2021 by Neel Achary 0 Comments #Ajay Chitkara, #Bharti Airtel, #Director & CEO – Airtel Business

New Delhi / Hyderabad: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s premier communications solutions provider, is stepping up initiatives to accelerate the digital transformation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in India by partnering with National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC), A Government of India Enterprise having its mission “to promote and support MSME sector by providing integrated support services encompassing Marketing, Technology, Finance and other services”.

Airtel announced an alliance with NSIC to make it easier for millions of small and medium businesses get access to Airtel’s Connectivity, Conferencing, Cloud, Security, and Go-to-Market solutions. This partnership with NSIC envisages digital transformation of this critical sector as key to the Government’s vision of ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ for enabling MSMEs to scale up faster by ways of adopting digital ways of doing business.

Airtel’s solutions for MSMEs include:

  1. Airtel Connectivity: Internet, Secure Internet, Dedicated Internet, Managed Wifi, VPN, Direct VPN, Intelligent VPN
  2. Airtel Landline: PRI & Toll-Free Calling solutions
  3. Airtel Mobile: Corporate Mobile Plans with bundled G-Suite
  4. Airtel Conferencing: Secure, simple and seamless meetings with Airtel BlueJeans
  5. Airtel Cloud: Private, Public and edge cloud solutions
  6. Airtel Secure: Integrated security solutions for businesses
  7. Airtel IoT: Utilizing the power of IoT to make businesses smarter
  8. Airtel IQ: cloud communication suite to transform customer engagement

The offerings will come with the trusted support from Airtel that ensures high customer satisfaction through industry-leading service uptime. Airtel already serves over one million medium and small businesses across India with best-in-class products that are available to customers in highly flexible formats. The alliance with NSIC gives it much deeper distribution reach in this segment.

Sh. P. Udayakumar, Director (Planning & Marketing), NSIC said “These solutions will be available through NSIC’s online portal www.msmemart.com as well as through NSIC’s field offices across the country under NSIC’s Aggregation vertical offering ICT Enabled Digital Services. This partnership with Airtel is envisaged to serve multiple ICT needs of MSME sector for sustained growth and increased productivity.”

Ajay Chitkara, Director & CEO – Airtel Business, said “MSMEs are critical to the Indian economy. We are delighted to join hands with NSIC to fast-track their digital transformation journeys. Airtel’s pan-India network, deep distribution reach as well easily accessible digital platforms will give MSMEs the flexibility and convenience of addressing all their digital connectivity requirements through a single window.”

MSMEs are an important growth engine of the Indian economy. With over 60 million business units, the sector contributes to 29% of India’s GDP, 40% of exports and employs over 110 million people. These businesses are looking for reliable, secure connectivity and digital platforms that will add to their efficiency and competitiveness.

Business World

Airtel offers India’s best video and gaming experience

Oct 6, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #Airtel, #Bharti Airtel, #Says Randeep Sekhon

New Delhi, October 2020: “Airtel remains the operator to beat” as per the findings of Opensignal’s latest India Mobile Network Experience Report. Airtel has won four of the top awards, including the Best Gaming and Video Experience, in the study which examined mobile network experience for top operators in 49 cities across India.

In today’s unprecedented times, mobile networks are playing an increasingly important role in keeping people connected, helping them work and study remotely. Video streaming and online gaming over smartphones have seen a massive surge as people stay indoors. Teams at Airtel are working round the clock to ensure that customers always get a world-class network experience and Opensignal’s findings are a validation of these efforts.

Airtel offers the best gaming experience: In its first-ever award for gaming experience on mobile, Opensignal rates Airtel as the top network in India. Open signal analysed how the multiplayer mobile Games Experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter to determine the impact on gameplay.

Airtel offers the best video experience: Airtel has topped Opensignal’s Video Experience rankings for the fourth time in a row and this time around it was the only operator to place in the Good (55-65) category for this measure of the mobile experience.

Airtel has the fastest download speeds: Airtel continues to blaze the charts when it comes to downloads speeds. It once again topped Opensignal’s download speed experience rankings with an average speed of 10.4 Mbps.

Airtel offers the best voice app experience: For the second year running Airtel has won the best voice app experience award in Opensignal’s study.

Says Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel: “Our mission is to serve quality customers with world-class service experience and Opensignal’s latest findings reaffirm our razor-sharp focus on network excellence. Especially during these unprecedented times when our customers need seamless connectivity for Work From Home, Online Education and Entertainment, Airtel has stepped up the game to deliver the best experience.”