Bharti Airtel has announced a strategic partnership with IntelliSmart Infrastructure Private Limited to install smart meters in approximately 20 million households across the country. This collaboration marks Airtel's venture into advanced technologies such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure, meter data management systems, Cloud, and Analytics. Airtel is keen on contributing significantly to the government's drive for smart meters. The government of India aims to replace 250 million traditional meters with Smart Meters over the next five years through the AMI initiative. Airtel emphasizes its dedication to playing a pivotal role in enabling the government's vision by utilizing its unique capabilities.
Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, CEO of Airtel Business (India), highlighted the company's enhanced position as the leading IoT facilitator in the country. He emphasized IoT's rapid growth within Airtel Business, emphasizing that their recent collaboration strategically places them to significantly contribute to the Indian government's initiative of digitizing 250 million traditional meters into smart meters. Lakshminarayanan also mentioned their plans to expand their current IoT market share of 55.4% (as of Q1 FY23-24) by connecting devices nationwide through their platform.
Anil Rawal, MD & CEO of Intellismart Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., expressed the importance of India's smart metering program in modernizing the power distribution sector. He acknowledged smart meters as crucial components for smart grids and vital facilitators in the power system's digitalization efforts. Rawal emphasized their reliance on strong partners in various solution aspects to effectively deploy their Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solutions, aiming for one of the largest portfolios of smart meters in India. He expressed confidence that the inclusion of Airtel as a strategic partner would significantly contribute to reinforcing their infrastructure solutions with a robust and secure cloud-based cellular communication network.