This partnership is seen as a significant milestone towards Google's commitment to accelerate cloud and AI adoption in India. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are increasingly targeting the telecommunications industry, capitalizing on the vast data generated by the sector's billions of customers worldwide. Google, already an investor in Airtel, has also backed Jio Platforms, India's largest carrier, which maintains a similar long-term partnership with Microsoft. The financial terms of the Google-Airtel deal were not disclosed.
Key takeaways:
- Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, has entered into a long-term partnership with Google Cloud to develop and deliver cloud and generative AI products to Indian businesses.
- The partnership aims to leverage Airtel's extensive customer base, including 2,000 large enterprises and a million emerging businesses, to offer AI solutions trained using Airtel's vast data sets.
- As part of the collaboration, Airtel and Google Cloud will provide businesses with products like geospatial analytics, location intelligence, predictive capabilities, voice analytics for conversational applications, and marketing technology.
- Google, which is already an investor in Airtel, has committed to investing up to $1 billion in the Indian carrier in 2022. The financial terms of this new partnership, however, were not disclosed.