Platform to ready Airtel's network for emerging technologies such as 5G and Edge Computing, enable its partners to deploy advanced B2B & B2C applications
Designed to enhance network efficiency and performance, improve customer experience
ARMONK, N.Y. and New Delhi, May 11, 2020: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), one of India’s largest
integrated telcos, has selected IBM and Red Hat to build its new telco network cloud, designed to make it more
efficient, flexible and future-ready to support core operations and enable new digital services. Under the
agreement, Airtel will build its next generation core network, analytical tools and new consumer and enterprise
services on top of this cloud platform based on open standards.
With the new network cloud, Airtel
intends to deliver a better customer experience through enhanced network performance, improved availability,
operations automation and scaling the network to the edge. This is designed to reduce latency and improve bandwidth
availability and automation, thereby strengthening the overall quality of the network.
India's data
consumption is expected to grow at a compounded annual
growth rate (CAGR) of over 70% by 20221. Adopting a modern hybrid cloud architecture enables
communication service providers (CSPs) to deliver more responsive networks that tap into automation and AI to
address growing customer needs and deploy new services at the right location and network tier.
Using IBM and Red Hat’s portfolio of hybrid cloud and cognitive enterprise capabilities, Airtel plans to adopt an
open cloud architecture that uses Red Hat OpenStack Platform for all network workloads and Red Hat OpenShift for
newer containerized workloads. It will also tap into Red Hat's ecosystem of network OEMs. In the future, Airtel’s
open hybrid cloud platform is expected to help enable new revenue streams with the on-boarding of third-party
services including gaming, remote media production and enterprise services. By embracing IBM and Red Hat’s hybrid
cloud technology all the way to the network edge, Airtel aims to achieve improvement in time-to-market of services,
reduction in operating expenses and reduced capital expenses.
The network cloud will also position
ecosystem partners, including B2B and B2C application developers, to create value-added services, including new edge
offerings. The multicloud platform and end-to-end intent-based lifecycle management will help onboard these services
faster on the network cloud and seamlessly integrate these services with current fulfilment, assurance and billing
processes. Additionally, the network cloud is embedded with AI, designed to facilitate automation in onboarding and
improvs monitoring and predictive capabilities for different services from network equipment providers.
“As part of our endeavor to build a 5G ready network for India’s requirements, we are pleased to
collaborate with IBM and Red Hat in our cloud journey,” said Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel. Our goal with this
powerful, seamless horizontal approach is to make our network future ready and enable Airtel to efficiently serve
the massive surge in data consumption. The hybrid cloud architecture will resonate with our customer-obsession by
providing improved flexibility, network stability and performance and bringing agility and automation in our network
operations.”
“Through its collaboration with IBM and Red Hat, Airtel will be
building a modern, innovative and more responsive network infused with automation and AI, that will provide the
consistency and agility needed for today’s rapidly changing marketplace,” said Steve Canepa, Global Managing
Director, Communications Sector and Worldwide Head of Telecommunications, Media & Entertainment Industry, IBM.
“IBM is a valued collaborator to many of the world’s largest and most innovative communications service providers
like Airtel as they transform their networks into open and secure hybrid multicloud platforms and prepare for the 5G
and edge computing era.”
“Red Hat is providing innovative open source solutions to help Airtel improve flexibility and reduce development time, so they can stay competitive in the rapidly evolving telecommunications market,” said Darrell Jordan-Smith, global vice president, vertical industries and accounts, Red Hat. “By adopting a more agile approach to network operations based on Red Hat’s open hybrid cloud technologies, Airtel is building a future-ready platform to meet the evolving needs of its customers.”
About Airtel
Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”) is a leading global telecommunications company
with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst
the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings
include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed home broadband, DTH,
enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the
geographies, it offers 2G, 3G, 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 418 million
customers across its operations at the end of December 2019. To know more please visit, www.airtel.com
Red Hat® and OpenShift are trademarks or registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. The OpenStack® Word Mark is either a registered trademark/service mark or trademark/service mark of the OpenStack Foundation, in the United States and other countries, and is used with the OpenStack Foundation's permission. Red Hat is not affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored by the OpenStack Foundation, or the OpenStack community.
About IBM
For more information please visit https://www.ibm.com/cloud
Sources:
[1] https://www.assocham.org/newsdetail.php?id=7075
Contact:
Marisa Conway
IBM Media Relations
conwaym@us.ibm.com