Airtel Launches Cloud Service As Foreign Firms Go Under Lens

At a time when Indian businesses are reassessing their reliance on foreign cloud providers, telecom major Bharti Airtel has rolled out its own sovereign cloud platform as part of its digital services arm, Xtelify.

Airtel Cloud comes closely after Microsoft’s recent suspension of services to Nayara Energy. The disruption, though temporary, left Nayara’s operations in limbo and forced it to seek alternatives to maintain internal communication.

The platform is designed to serve businesses looking for locally controlled, AI-powered cloud infrastructure. It claims to support up to 140 Cr transactions a minute and has been put to internal use across Airtel network and services.

Airtel has also launched a software platform for global telecom operators. Xtelify claims to have signed agreements with Singtel (Singapore), Globe Telecom (the Philippines), and Airtel Africa to deploy its AI-driven solutions across operations like field management, fraud protection, and customer experience.

Airtel says its cloud platform will offer infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), and secure migration, with no vendor lock-in. The infrastructure is supported by Nxtra’s pan-India data centres and managed by a team of 300 certified cloud engineers.

While Airtel did not provide revenue targets, the company said its goal is to reduce cloud costs by up to 40% for Indian enterprises. The company asserted that all controls and data would remain within India.

As more Indian companies go digital, events like the Nayara-Microsoft fallout have underscored the risks of hosting core systems on platforms governed by geopolitical dynamics. Airtel’s localised approach could attract businesses looking to mitigate that exposure.

The news comes close on the heels of Airtel partnering with AI search engine Perplexity to offer its more than 360 Mn users a free one-year subscription to Perplexity Pro. The partnership aligns with Airtel’s history of bundling OTT services to improve the per-user revenue.