Google invests £748m in Bharti Airtel as tech giant expands in Indian telecoms
Shares of Bharti Airtel climbed as much as 6.6 per cent today after Alphabet’s Google said it would invest up to $1bn (£748m) in the telecom operator.
The investment commits an equity investment of $700m (£524m) worth shares of Airtel, giving the tech giant a 1.28 per cent stake in the company.
Google will invest the remaining funds to scale up Airtel’s offerings, including devices to consumers via innovative affordability programmes.
This is Google’s second investment in an Indian telecom service provider and indicates growing focus on the market.
Under the goals of the partnership, both companies will also potentially co-create India-specific network domain use cases for 5G and other standards.
This includes shaping and growing the cloud ecosystem in India to accelerate their digital transformation journeys.
“Airtel and Google share the vision to grow India’s digital dividend through innovative products. With our future ready network, digital platforms, last mile distribution and payments ecosystem, we look forward to working closely with Google to increase the depth and breadth of India’s digital ecosystem,” Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal said in a statement.
“Airtel is a leading pioneer shaping India’s digital future, and we are proud to partner on a shared vision for expanding connectivity and ensuring equitable access to the Internet for more Indians,” said Sundar Pichai, chief exec of Google and Alphabet.
“Our commercial and equity investment in Airtel is a continuation of our Google for India Digitization Fund’s efforts to increase access to smartphones, enhance connectivity to support new business models, and help companies on their digital transformation journey,” he added.