Indian telecom company Bharti Airtel, which battles with Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, recently announced its strategic partnership with IntelliSmart Infrastructure.
The partnership aims to power up to 20 million smart meters, marking Airtel’s entry into the smart metering sector. The company said the venture is one of the largest in India’s smart metering space and is set to significantly boost Airtel’s Internet of Things (IoT) deployment across various sectors.
Leveraging IoT platform
Airtel will leverage its IoT platform, the “Airtel IoT Hub,” to track and monitor these smart meters. The IoT Hub, hosted on Airtel’s cloud network, offers advanced analytics and telco-grade security.
It enables enterprise users to connect and manage a vast array of devices and applications securely and seamlessly.
Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, CEO of Airtel Business (India), highlighted the company’s position as a market leader in IoT, stating, “IoT is one of the fastest-growing business segments for Airtel Business, and with this deal, we are now strategically positioned to play a pivotal role in driving the Govt. of India’s vision of digitising 250 million conventional meters to smart meters.”
IntelliSmart’s vision
Anil Rawal, MD & CEO of IntelliSmart Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., emphasized the importance of smart meters in modernizing India’s power distribution sector. He expressed confidence in Airtel as a strategic partner, noting the significance of strong associations in strengthening their infrastructure solutions with a resilient and secure cloud-hosted cellular communication network.
The Government of India aims to replace 250 million conventional meters with smart meters over the next five years as part of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) initiative. Airtel IoT is set to play a crucial role in enabling this vision with its unique capabilities.
Acceleration of digitization
The partnership between Airtel and IntelliSmart is expected to accelerate the digitization of India’s power sector. The government’s push for transparency and consumer-friendly measures in this sector is likely to see innovations like smart meters becoming increasingly common.
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