Google has announced that will invest up to $1 billion in Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom provider company. Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc., will pay $700 million for a 1.28 percent interest in Bharti Airtel, with another $300 million set aside for multi-year plans that would include gadgets.
In Friday’s NSE intraday session, Bharti Airtel shares jumped as much as 6% after the telecom giant revealed that As part of the Google for India Digitization Fund, Google will invest up to $1 billion in a joint venture with Airtel.
“Airtel is a major pioneer defining India’s digital future, and we are thrilled to cooperate on a shared goal for extending connectivity and guaranteeing equal access to the Internet for more Indians,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google. “Our commercial and equity investment in Airtel is a continuation of our Google for India Digitization Fund’s efforts to expand access to smartphones, improve connectivity to promote new business models, and assist organizations on their digital transformation path,” Pichai added.
Agreement Between partners
Google will invest in Airtel’s portfolio as part of the first commercial arrangement, as well as finance affordability programs. In addition, the corporations will work to make connections cheaper. The cooperation, on the other hand, will “reduce the hurdles to having a smartphone across a range of price ranges.” This suggeststhat
Airtel may resume offering smartphone financing, as other carriers in nations such as the United States do. Since Airtel has stated that it will not manufacture phones as Jio did with its JioPhone line, this is the only other way for Airtel to compete on the same level.
In addition, Google will cooperate with Airtel to build India-specific 5G use cases as well as other network solutions. Airtel, incidentally, has been employing Google’s 5G-ready EPC and SDN systems to virtualize its network core.
In addition, Google will cooperate with Airtel to build India-specific 5G use cases as well as other network solutions. Airtel, incidentally, has been employing Google’s 5G-ready EPC and SDN systems to virtualize its network core.
To speed their digital transformation journeys, both organizations will focus on building and developing the cloud ecosystem in India. With its enterprise connection offering, Airtel serves over one million small and medium companies, and this cooperation will assist promote digital adoption.
Benefits for Airtel from Google’sinvestment
Airtel is anticipated to benefit from Google’s investment as it expands its 5G ambitions and competes with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio.
Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Airtel, stated that both Google and Airtel share the goal of increasing India’s digital dividend through new solutions. Mittal stated that Airtel, with its future-ready network, digital platforms, and last-mile distribution, is looking forward to collaborating with Google to expand India’s
digital ecosystem’s depth and breadth.
As a consequence of the acquisition, Airtel’s promoter group–the Mittal family and SingTel–will have a 55.26 percent stake in the company, down from 55.93 percent. The Mittal family will control around 23.88 percent of the company, down from 24.13 percent, while SingTel will possess 31.38 percent, down from 31.72 percent. The public and institutional share will drop from 44.06 percent to 43.73 percent.
Google Investing in India’s Telecom powerhouses
Google’s investment in Airtel comes 18 months after the corporation paid $4.5 billion for a 7.73 percent ownership in Jio Platforms, the parent company of Indian telecom industry leader Reliance Jio. Google and Jio have collaborated on the development of a low-cost 4G smartphone based on a customized Android OS, with the goal of encouraging featurephone customers to upgrade to smartphones.
Google’s investment in Airtel comes 18 months after the corporation paid $4.5 billion for a 7.73 percent ownership in Jio Platforms, the parent company of Indian telecom industry leader Reliance Jio. Google and Jio have collaborated on the development of a low-cost 4G smartphone based on a customized Android OS, with the goal of encouraging featurephone customers to upgrade to smartphones.
Google’s investment in Airtel comes 18 months after the corporation paid $4.5 billion for a 7.73 percent ownership in Jio Platforms, the parent company of Indian telecom industry leader Reliance Jio. Google and Jio have collaborated on the development of a low-cost 4G smartphone based on a customized Android OS, with the goal of encouraging featurephone customers to upgrade to smartphones.
While Google wants to expand its reach by guaranteeing that more people use its search engine, doing so would necessitate a considerable population switching to 4G, which is where telecoms face a hurdle. Google’s collaboration with Reliance Jio has “failed to generate benefits,” thus the company is looking into how working
with Airtel can change that.
