The partners will set up a joint 5G innovation lab for developing locally developed use cases for the Indian and global markets
Indian telco Bharti Airtel and compatriot tech and business services company Tech Mahindra, announced a strategic partnership to build and market 5G-based solutions in the Indian market.
Under the terms of the deal, Airtel and Tech Mahindra will set up a joint 5G innovation lab for developing locally-developed use cases for the Indian and global markets.
The two companies will also bring to market customized enterprise grade private networks, which will combine Airtel’s 5G-ready mobile network, fiber, SDWAN, and IoT with Tech Mahindra’s system integration capabilities. The companies will initially focus on segments such as automobiles, aviation, ports, utilities, chemicals, oil & gas and expand to other industries in the future.
Airtel and Tech Mahindra will also offer secure Cloud and Content Delivery Network (CDN) solutions to businesses.
Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, CEO of Enterprise Business, at Bharti Airtel said: “Airtel and Tech Mahindra have a shared vision of supporting the growth of India’s digital ecosystem. We are delighted to join forces with Tech Mahindra to bring to market a range of cutting-edge digital solutions for the emerging requirements of enterprises. With proven technology capabilities and deep customer trust enjoyed by the two brands, we believe this is a win-win partnership.”
“The 5G ecosystem will unlock immense opportunities for industries across sectors to improve productivity and enhance customer experience through digitally powered new-age platforms and solutions. We are excited to partner with Airtel to provide innovative and cutting-edge solutions for enterprise customers. In line with Tech Mahindra’s NXT.NOWTM framework, this collaboration is focused on offering next-generation services to the Indian market by enabling transformation via network, cloud engineering and customer experience,” said Manish Vyas, president of Communications, Media and Entertainment Business, and CEO of Network Services, at Tech Mahindra.
Last year, Bharti Airtel, had announced the launch of an integrated IoT platform for local enterprises. The telco said that the platform, dubbed “Airtel IoT” is an end-to-end platform with the capability to connect and manage billions of devices and applications.
The platform uses Airtel’s 5G-ready network and comes with the option to deploy NB-IoT, 4G or 2G connectivity using Airtel e-SIM technology.
According to recent press reports, Bharti Airtel expects to deploy its 5G network using equipment from European vendors as well as Open RAN equipment.
“As per the national policies, we are not buying from Chinese vendors for the radio or any core equipment. The other two [Nokia and Ericsson] are very much there in our networks and we’re talking to everyone who can sell to India and follows India’s policies. We will be able to work not just with traditional vendors, but with O-RAN vendors as well,” the company’s CTO Randeep Sekhon reportedly said.
Sekhon also said that Airtel may look at acquiring 100 megahertz of 5G spectrum in the spectrum auction the Indian government will carry out this year, adding that the company was open to buy a lower amount of spectrum if base prices remain high.
Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with over 480 million customers in 16 countries across South Asia and Africa.
