Google Teams Up with Airtel to Deliver Cloud Solutions and Generative AI Tools to Indian Businesses

Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, announced on Monday its long-term partnership with Google Cloud, aimed at developing and delivering sophisticated cloud and generative AI solutions for Indian businesses. This collaboration seeks to leverage Airtel’s extensive customer network, which comprises 2,000 large enterprises and one million emerging businesses, to provide innovative AI solutions.

The partnership will focus on offering advanced products such as geospatial analytics, location intelligence for trend identification, predictive analytics, market assessment, site selection, risk management, and asset tracking. Additionally, the companies will introduce voice analytics tailored for conversational applications in multiple languages and marketing technologies that forecast consumer behavior, segment audiences, and optimize content creation using contextual ads. To support these initiatives, Airtel has established a managed service center in Pune staffed by over 300 experts.

As major tech players like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon increasingly target the telecom sector, they aim to harness the vast amounts of data generated by billions of customers worldwide. These firms have formed partnerships with telecom operators globally, including in the U.S. and U.K., to extend their generative AI offerings to businesses around the globe.

Google has previously invested in Airtel, committing up to $1 billion in 2022. The tech giant also supports Jio Platforms, India’s leading carrier, which enjoys a similar partnership with Microsoft, enabling it to cross-sell Office 365 and Azure services to local businesses.

While Google and Airtel have not disclosed the financial terms of their agreement, Google Cloud CEO, Thomas Kurian, characterized the partnership as “a significant milestone” in advancing cloud and AI adoption in India.