Bharti Airtel and Google Partnership
The investment includes an equity investment of $700 million in Google Swar Bharti Airtel at a share price of INR 734. Up to $300 million will be used to implement commercial agreements.
Airtel and Google have signed a long-term agreement to accelerate India’s digital ecosystem. Google will invest up to $1 billion from its Google for India Digitalization Fund in Airtel as part of this partnership. Both equity investments and funds for potential commercial agreements will be invested. Over the next five years, areas that require digitization of the country will be identified using this fund.
The investment includes an equity investment of $700 million in Google Swar Bharti Airtel at a price of INR 734 per share. Up to $300 million will be used to implement commercial agreements. This includes investments in expanding Airtel’s products and services. Additionally, it includes programs designed to expand access and speed up digital usage in India’s digital ecosystem. Various tools and services will also be developed.
Chairman of Bharti Airtel Sunil Bharti Mittal said, “Airtel and Google are committed to growing India’s digital dividend through innovative products.” “We look forward to working with Google to grow India’s digital ecosystem comprehensively.”
It has been agreed that Airtel and Google will jointly invest and collaborate in a variety of areas in order to create digital solutions that will uniquely meet India’s needs. Airtel and Google will collaborate to provide consumers with Android-enabled tools through innovative affordability programs as part of this commercial agreement. Additionally, both companies will continue to identify more opportunities to lower consumer barriers to one smartphone across a variety of price points, in partnership with a variety of device manufacturers. The two companies will also focus on shaping and developing the cloud ecosystem in India to accelerate the digital transformation process. Airtel serves over one million small and medium businesses with its enterprise connectivity, and this partnership will help them embrace digitalization more quickly.
The two companies will potentially address Indian-specific network domain use cases for 5G and other standards, with state-of-the-art implementations, as part of the partnership’s larger strategic goals. Airtel already uses Google’s 5G-ready Evolved Packet Core platform and Software Defined Network platform and plans to expand its use of Google’s network virtualization solutions to provide a better network experience for its customers.
“Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said, “Airtel has been a leader in shaping India’s digital future and we are proud to work with them on a shared vision to ensure more Indians have access to the web. ” He continued, “Our commercial and equity investment in Airtel is part of the Google Digitization Fund’s efforts to increase access to smartphones, improve connectivity for new business models, and assist companies in their digital transformation.”