Bharti Airtel and IBM Partner to Boost India’s Cloud Services and AI Capabilities
Bengaluru — India’s second-largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, has announced a strategic partnership with IBM to expand cloud computing services across the country, strengthening India’s digital infrastructure and supporting businesses in adopting cutting-edge technology.
This collaboration underscores India’s commitment to leveraging cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) to drive innovation, improve operational efficiency, and ensure secure, reliable data management.
Through this partnership, Airtel Cloud customers will gain access to IBM’s AI-ready servers and enterprise-grade cloud solutions, enabling industries such as banking, healthcare, government, and other regulated sectors to run mission-critical applications smoothly.
With the rapid adoption of AI and digital solutions in India, the collaboration is timely, helping businesses scale operations efficiently while meeting growing data residency and compliance requirements.
Bharti Airtel’s digital unit, Xtelify, launched Airtel Cloud in August 2025, offering businesses a robust, scalable platform to deploy cloud applications.
By integrating IBM’s advanced cloud offerings, Airtel Cloud is now better equipped to serve enterprises with high-performance computing, AI workloads, and multi-zone infrastructure that ensures uninterrupted service and data security.
This will support India’s expanding technology ecosystem and empower businesses to innovate with confidence.
As part of the partnership, Airtel and IBM will establish two new Multizone Regions (MZRs) in Mumbai and Chennai. MZRs are cloud infrastructures spread across multiple physical locations, designed to maintain uninterrupted operations even if one zone faces technical issues.
This approach ensures high availability and resilience for enterprises relying on cloud services, providing them with the flexibility to manage critical workloads without disruption.
This announcement comes shortly after Google’s $15 billion investment in an AI data center in Andhra Pradesh, highlighting India’s growing importance as a hub for cloud computing, AI, and technology-driven innovation.
Airtel is also collaborating with Google to set up a state-of-the-art data center in Visakhapatnam, demonstrating the company’s commitment to building a future-ready digital ecosystem in India.
Together, these initiatives are creating a strong foundation for AI, cloud computing, and digital transformation across industries.
Bharti Airtel’s leadership in this sector, combined with IBM’s global expertise, positions India as a leader in cloud services adoption and AI deployment.
Enterprises will now have access to world-class technology solutions without compromising on security, performance, or compliance.
The partnership is expected to accelerate India’s journey toward digital transformation by offering enterprises tools to enhance productivity, automate operations, and scale innovations efficiently.
Moreover, the collaboration supports India’s broader goals of digital inclusion and technological self-reliance, enabling businesses of all sizes, including startups and SMEs, to leverage advanced cloud solutions and AI capabilities.
By adopting these services, companies can optimize costs, improve customer experiences, and deploy applications faster, boosting competitiveness in both domestic and global markets.
Industry experts have welcomed this move as a significant milestone for India’s technology sector, emphasizing the importance of strong cloud infrastructure for supporting AI-driven business strategies.
With increasing digitalization across sectors and rising demand for secure, compliant cloud services, the Airtel-IBM partnership is expected to play a pivotal role in driving innovation, enabling enterprise growth, and strengthening India’s position as a global technology leader.
In conclusion, the Bharti Airtel and IBM partnership represents a win-win scenario for businesses, technology professionals, and the broader Indian economy.
By combining Airtel’s extensive telecom infrastructure with IBM’s cloud and AI expertise, this collaboration will accelerate digital transformation, enable smarter enterprise solutions, and ensure a resilient, scalable, and secure cloud ecosystem in India.
The initiative not only benefits Indian enterprises but also sets a benchmark for technology-driven growth and innovation in emerging markets, solidifying India’s role as a hub for advanced digital solutions.
