Google to invest up to $1 billion in Airtel; to co-create India-specific 5G use cases
- IBEF
- January 31, 2022
Airtel and Google have agreed to a long-term, multi-year partnership to help India's digital ecosystem grow faster. Google plans to contribute up to $1 billion as part of its Google for India Digitization Fund, which comprises both equity and a corpus for prospective commercial deals to be identified and settled on mutually agreeable terms over the next five years.
The investment involves a $700 million equity stake in Bharti Airtel, valued at Rs. 734 per share.
Up to $300 million would be used to implement commercial agreements, including investments in scaling Airtel's products, which include innovative affordability initiatives for customers as well as other offerings aimed at driving access and digital inclusion across India's digital ecosystem.
"Airtel and Google share the ambition of growing India's digital dividend through innovative products," stated Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Airtel. "We look forward to collaborating with Google to expand the depth and breadth of India's digital ecosystem, including our future-ready network, digital platforms, last-mile distribution, and payments ecosystem."
Both businesses have decided to work together to study and invest in a wide range of sectors in order to develop digital solutions that are specifically tailored to India's needs.
Airtel and Google will collaborate to expand on Airtel's vast portfolio of Android-enabled devices to consumers through creative affordability schemes as part of their first commercial deal. In collaboration with other device manufacturers, the companies will continue to look for new ways to lower the barriers to owning a smartphone across a range of price points.
Both firms may co-create India-specific network domain use cases for 5G and other standards, including cutting-edge implementations, as part of the partnership's bigger strategic ambitions.
Airtel is already employing Google's 5G-ready Evolved Packet Core and Software Defined Network platforms, and it wants to expand its use of Google's network virtualization solutions to provide a better network experience to its consumers.
To speed their digital transformation journeys, both organisations will focus on shaping and growing the cloud ecosystem in India. With its enterprise connection offering, Airtel serves over one million small and medium companies, and this cooperation will assist promote digital adoption.
"Airtel is a pioneer in defining India's digital future, and we are thrilled to cooperate on a shared vision for extending connectivity and guaranteeing equitable Internet access for more Indians," said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. "Our commercial and equity investment in Airtel is part of our Google for India Digitization Fund's initiatives to expand smartphone adoption, improve connectivity to support new business models, and assist businesses in their digital transformation."
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.
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