Airtel rolls out Cloud tool to power telcos

The Telecom Major Will Now Compete With US Players Like Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, And Google

- AASHISH ARYAN & GULVEEN AULAKH

India's second-largest telecom services provider, Bharti Airtel, on Monday launched a sovereign, telecommunications-grade Cloud platform, Airtel Cloud, to help Indian companies reduce their cloud expenditure while ensuring that data remains within the country.

The Sunil Mittal-promoted carrier will offer the platform through its wholly owned subsidiary, Xtelify, which will provide Airtel Cloud to other telecom operators via a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) model.

Alongside the Cloud offering, the company launched an AI-powered software suite designed to improve customer experience, reduce churn, and raise average revenue per user (Arpu), a key profitability metric for telecom firms.

Among its first contract wins, Xtelify has signed up with Singapore's leading telecom operator Singtel (also a shareholder in Bharti Airtel), Airtel Africa, which operates in 14 African countries, and Globe Telecom of the Philippines.