Google to invest $1 bn in Bharti Airtel

Google will invest up to $1 billion in Bharti Airtel through a mix of equity and commercial partnerships in areas like affordable smartphones, networks, and the cloud. This is the tech giant’s second investment in an Indian telecom service provider (after Reliance Jio) and is part of its $10-billion India digitization fund. The $1-billion commitment includes an equity investment of $700 million (Rs 5,224 crore). Shares will be issued to Google on a preferential basis at Rs 734 apiece and will give Google a 1.28 percent stake in the company.

Google will set aside $300 million for potential investment in areas like smartphone access, networks, and the cloud. The investment will help Airtel to offer a wide range of affordable devices to consumers. The company is also using software tools and data models that predict customer purchase trends and allow for targeted offers. Airtel has more than 190 million 4G customers, adding nearly 80 million users in the past two years.

The other two areas of collaboration are 5G and cloud. Both companies will potentially co-create India-specific network domain use cases for 5G and other standards. Airtel uses Google’s 5G-ready Evolved Packet Core and software-defined network platforms. They will also focus on shaping and growing the cloud ecosystem in India to accelerate their digital transformation journeys.

Source: Business Standard