Airtel enters the $ 1 billion Indian cloud communications market with Airtel IQ

Airtel IQ will help businesses drive deeper customer engagement through seamless and secure communication delivered over cloud

Swiggy, Urban Company, Justdial, Rapido, Havells among early customers

Kolkata, October 27, 2020: Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s largest integrated telecommunications company, marked its entry into the fast-growing cloud communications market with the launch of Airtel IQ today.  

Airtel IQ, a cloud-based omni-channel communications platform, enables brands to deepen engagement with customers through timely and secure communication.  Take for example a customer ordering food through an online platform and calling the delivery agent to find out the status of her order. The entire communication is orchestrated seamlessly and securely over Airtel IQ. The communication is encrypted and all mobile/telephone numbers are masked.

A true game changer in the Indian enterprise communication segment, Airtel IQ eliminates the need for multiple communication platforms for different channels. With just a slice of code, businesses can embed communication services such as Voice, SMS, IVR in their applications and digital properties across desktop and mobile, all through a unified platform. For more details www.Airtel.in/iq

Airtel IQ has been fully developed by Airtel’s in-house engineering teams and highlights the company’s growing digital prowess to deliver world-class solutions. Natively integrated into telco grade infrastructure and architected by top digital talent, Airtel IQ is robust, secure, cost-efficient and intuitive.

Many of India’s biggest companies such as Swiggy, Justdial, Urban Company, Havells, Dr. Lal Path Labs and Rapido have signed up as customers for Airtel IQ during the beta phase itself.   

Commenting on Airtel’s latest innovation, Vivek Sunder, COO, Swiggy, said, “Seamless and secure communication between our customers, delivery partners and partner restaurants is key to our service enablement. With Airtel IQ, we have been able to deliver seamless and highly intuitive communication between all parties across our platform in a privacy contained and simplified fashion.”

Adarsh Nair, Chief Product Officer, Bharti Airtel, meanwhile, had this to say, “At Airtel, we are obsessed with solving customer problems and Airtel IQ is first amongst several game changing products that we will be bringing to the market. Businesses are increasingly looking to cloud-based digital platforms to engage with consumers and Airtel IQ is built to raise the bar when it comes to brands delighting consumers. So, the next time you enjoy shopping online, ordering food from your favourite restaurant or hailing a ride, remember there’s a bit of Airtel IQ in there making it happen seamlessly and safely.” 

The Indian cloud communications market, estimated to be worth USD 1 billion*, is growing close to 20 per cent annually. Airtel is India’s largest player in the B2B connectivity space and serves over one million businesses with an integrated portfolio that includes connectivity, cloud, security and collaboration and data centre solutions. The company is uniquely positioned to capture this large emerging opportunity and be a leading player in this segment.

 *Market size based on Airtel Internal Estimates 

About Airtel

Headquartered in India, Airtel is a global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa. The company ranks amongst the top three mobile operators globally and its mobile network covers a population of over two billion people. Airtel is India’s largest integrated telecom provider and the second largest mobile operator in Africa. At the end of June 2020, Airtel had approx. 420 mn customers across its operations. 

Airtel’s portfolio includes high speed 4G/4.5G mobile broadband, Airtel Xstream Fiber that promises speeds up to 1Gbps, converged digital TV solutions through the Airtel Xstream 4K Hybrid Box, digital payments through Airtel Payments Bank as well as an integrated suite of services across connectivity, collaboration, cloud and security that serves over one million businesses.  

Airtel’s OTT services include Airtel Thanks app for self-care, Airtel Xstream app for video, Wynk Music for entertainment and Airtel BlueJeans for video conferencing. In addition, Airtel has forged strategic partnerships with hundreds of companies across the world to enable the Airtel platform to deliver an array of consumer and enterprise services.