To offer end-to-end IoT solution for smart metering including Head end system, Cloud and Analytics
Meerut : Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), one of India’s leading telecommunications service providers, today, announced that it has formed a strategic partnership to power up to 20 million smart meters with IntelliSmart Infrastructure Private Limited, a leading smart metering and digital solutions provider.
This marks Airtel’s foray into smart metering applications such as Head end system along with Cloud and Analytics. This is the one of the largest deals in the smart metering space in the country and will
significantly contribute towards Airtel’s fast-growing IoT deployment across sectors.
Airtel’s IoT proposition includes its proprietary platform the “Airtel IoT Hub” which will
help the utility track and monitor these smart meters with advanced analytics while
maintaining extremely high reliability augmented with telco grade security. Housed on
Airtel’s own cloud network, the IoT hub will allow enterprise users the capability to connect
and manage billions of devices and applications in a highly secure and seamless fashion.
Ganesh Lakshminarayanan – CEO, Airtel Business (India) said about the venture, “We
have further strengthened our market leadership as the largest IoT enabler in the country. IoT
is one of the fastest-growing business segments for Airtel Business and, with this deal, we are
now strategically positioned to play a pivotal role in driving the Govt. of India’s vision of
digitising 250 million conventional meters to smart meters. As we connect the devices across
the country on our platform, we will exponentially grow our current IoT market share of
55.4% (as on Q1 FY23-24).”
Anil Rawal – MD & CEO, Intellismart Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. had this to say, “India’s
smart metering programme is one of the significant steps taken by the government to
modernise the power distribution sector. Smart meters are critical building blocks for smart
grids and a fundamental enabler of the digitalisation efforts of the power system. As we set
forward to implement one of India’s largest portfolios of smart meters, we are relying on
some of the most able and potent partners in the sector for various solution elements to
support the successful deployment of our Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solutions.
We are confident that the on-boarding of Airtel as a strategic partner will be a significant step
towards our goal of creating strong associations to strengthen our infrastructure solution with
a resilient and secure cloud-hosted cellular communication network.”
The Government of India has the ambitious vision of replacing 250 million conventional
meters with Smart Meters in the next five years as part of the AMI initiative. Airtel IoT aims
to play a pivotal role in enabling this vision of the government with its unique capabilities.
Power sector digitisation aided by the Government of India’s push to usher in transparency and consumer friendly measures in this sector will see innovation such as Smart Meters
become commonplace.
