Airtel is Concentrating into Betterment of Networks & Enterprise Business

As Jio is getting invested from overseas, to be debt-free and being financially prepared for 5G, Bharti Airtel is not standing idle, they are investing on networks as well as future networks. For Airtel 4G expansion and being 5G ready is crucial, as Airtel is all set to phase out 3G. As their 4G network is not omnipresence, they can't shut down 2G services anytime soon.

So Airtel has to increase 4G footprint, significantly in rural areas. Also in urban areas their capacity to handle wireless data is to be increased multifold in the time of Covid-19 due to lockdown as people are working from home.

In January, 2020 Airtel ＆ Google joined hands to offer Google's G-Suite ＆ other productivity tools on Airtel's Cloud Services. Experts see this deal is crucial for both - Airtel takes on Jio, as Jio made a similar deal with Microsoft to use Microsoft's Azure services in August '19, while Google is taking a lead against Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. This deal will strengthen Airtel's market in small & medium business sector.

In April 2020, Airtel made a deal with microwave backhaul vendor Ceragon for faster 4G rollout in rural areas. Ceragon's solutions would help Airtel to use scarce backhaul microwave spectrum more efficiently. 

By April end of 2020, Airtel signed a multi-year deal with Nokia to deploy Finnish company's 5G-ready SRAN solutions in alteast 9 circles of the country. This deal will definitely strengthen Airtel's existing 4G network and enhance upcoming 5G network. Nokia's SRAN solutions include Nokia's RAN equipment, including its AirScale Radio Access, AirScale BaseBand and NetAct OSS solution.

In mid-May 2020 Airtel has partnered with IBM (and Red Hat, as IBM acquired it in July '19) to create a open hybrid 5G ready cloud services. IBM is already doing similar projects for Vodafone Idea.

The cloud computing will see a major market boost, as during lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic most employees are working from home. Post Covid-19 lockdown, it is expected many companies will move from office to 'work from home' culture in more or less in size.

Vodafone Idea is financially weakest out of three due to pending payment for AGR(adjusted gross revenue). But good news is Vodafone Plc is going to infuse $200 million or Rs 1,530 crore to its Indian venture with Aditya Birla Group. Hopefully Vodafone Idea may not spend much money over 5G as of now, but they will be ready for it. 

Experts see the battle of telecom has seen paradigm shift from basic voice minutes to consumer data, apps and enterprise services - those bit more technical, but these things earn better revenue.