New Delhi, October 15, 2025– Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, has entered into a strategic partnership with global technology company IBM to strengthen its cloud service capabilities. The agreement aims to support the growing demand for secure, scalable, and compliant cloud infrastructure among Indian enterprises, particularly in sectors with stringent data management requirements.
The collaboration will give Airtel Cloud customers access to IBM’s advanced cloud and AI technologies, including AI-optimized infrastructure designed to support high-performance workloads. These offerings are expected to benefit industries such as banking, healthcare, and public services, where data privacy, reliability, and regulatory compliance are essential.
As part of the partnership, Airtel and IBM will jointly establish two new Multizone Regions (MZRs) in Mumbai and Chennai. These facilities will distribute computing and storage resources across multiple physical locations within each city, reducing the risk of service disruption and enhancing data resilience. The move also supports data residency compliance, which has become increasingly important under India’s evolving digital regulations.
Gopal Vittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Airtel, said the MZRs will play a key role in supporting Indian businesses with mission-critical workloads. “These zones will help ensure that essential applications remain available even in the event of localized failures. This level of resilience, coupled with compliance with India’s data laws, is becoming a top priority for many organizations,” he said.
The partnership builds on Airtel’s broader investment in cloud services through its digital unit, Xtelify. In August 2025, the company launched the Airtel Cloud platform to provide Indian businesses with cloud solutions tailored to their needs. The collaboration with IBM represents the next step in that strategy, aiming to offer enterprise customers a combination of local infrastructure and global expertise.
The announcement comes just one day after Google unveiled its plan to invest $15 billion over five years in an AI-focused data center in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Airtel is also a partner in that initiative, further underlining its role in India’s expanding cloud and data ecosystem.
Industry analysts note that Airtel’s alliance with IBM positions it more competitively against domestic rivals such as Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea, who are also exploring opportunities in cloud infrastructure and data services. Airtel’s access to IBM’s enterprise-grade technologies and best practices could provide an advantage in serving businesses with complex IT and compliance requirements.
IBM, for its part, gains access to Airtel’s extensive telecom infrastructure and large customer base, which will help it expand its presence in a rapidly growing market. With decades of experience in managing enterprise workloads, IBM brings the ability to support clients across sectors that demand reliable, secure, and regulated cloud solutions.
The Indian cloud services market has grown significantly in recent years, fueled by increasing digitization across industries, government initiatives supporting local data storage, and a surge in AI and machine learning adoption. As organizations look to modernize operations, the need for robust, flexible, and locally compliant cloud platforms has intensified.
According to industry observers, this demand is likely to continue accelerating. “Many Indian companies, particularly in regulated sectors, are now moving beyond basic digital adoption to advanced use cases involving AI, analytics, and automation,” said a Mumbai-based IT analyst. “This is putting pressure on cloud providers to deliver not just infrastructure, but enterprise-ready platforms that meet security and legal requirements.”
The Airtel-IBM partnership is expected to address these needs by offering a combination of technological capability, geographic reach, and compliance readiness. In doing so, it may help businesses across India adopt more sophisticated digital solutions without compromising on security or operational continuity.
As cloud adoption deepens and regulatory expectations evolve, strategic partnerships like this one are likely to shape the future of India’s digital infrastructure. For Airtel, the agreement strengthens its cloud proposition at a time when competition is intensifying. For IBM, it reinforces its commitment to the Indian market and its role in supporting enterprise digital transformation.
Both companies have indicated that the partnership will evolve over time, with the potential for additional services and capabilities to be introduced as business needs and technologies continue to devel
