Airtel Bets On Finance, Data Centres As Next Act

Beyond its telecom roots, Bharti Airtel is pursuing other growth avenues like financial services, data centres and cloud computing, which Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal says are the next big opportunities for the company after 10 years of heavy network investments.

A Decade of Infrastructure, A New Direction

In its annual report, Mittal pointed out that the firm has been investing significantly over the past decade; more than ₹3.3 trillion has been invested in building one of the most robust digital infrastructure platforms in India.

The payoff phase of this investment is the current moment, he said, adding that the company has taken a “calibrated approach” over the past few years to develop new growth engines for its Airtel business.

"Over the last few years, we have taken a calibrated approach and the result has been strong outcomes and has reinforced our conviction in three areas where Airtel has a clear right to win -- financial services, data centres and Airtel Cloud".

Airtel Money's Financial Push

Airtel Money is a focus for the financial services push, and it has passed another key regulatory test. The Airtel Money has been approved by the Reserve Bank of India to function as a non-deposit taking Non-Banking Financial Company, Mittal said.

The company has invested significant resources in the business and is now looking to invest ₹20,000 crore in the company over the next few years to expand its digital financial services business.

Data Centres and Sovereign Cloud

The second pillar focuses on Airtel's data centre business called Nxtra. Recently, the unit has raised ₹1 billion or EUR 9500 crore to develop 1 gigawatt capacity.

In parallel, the company is rolling out Airtel Cloud, the enterprise market sovereign cloud offering, which has reportedly closed over 24 cloud deals and Airtel's 5G subscriber base has jumped to 188 million.

Policy Tailwinds

Mittal attributed the quickened transition to the policy of the government. He noted that the long-term tax holiday announced by the Government of India for investments in cloud and AI-driven data centres is a timely measure and will help catalyse continued capital inflows into digital infrastructure, ensuring data flows and sovereignty for the people of India.

On its own, the government hopes to invite investments in the data centre segment of over ₹18 trillion this year.

A leveling balance is achieved by Core Business Health

Meanwhile, Airtel has been claiming that the diversification is a step towards healthy pricing in its core mobility business, analysts note. The annual report report refers to the overall operating environment, noting that “tariff repair” will be supported by the continued ability of Airtel to generate cash flow from its telecom operations to fund major 5G, data centres, cloud and financial services initiatives.

The approach is part of a broader trend of Indian telecoms companies trying to expand beyond their voice and data markets.