Airtel Business enters into partnership with IntelliSmart to deploy 20 million smart meters
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel announced the formation of a strategic partnership to deploy up to 20 million smart meters in collaboration with IntelliSmart Infrastructure Private Limited, a provider of smart metering and digital solutions. Airtel is set to provide an end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) solution for smart metering, encompassing the head-end system, meter data management system, cloud infrastructure, and analytics.
The company said that this deal represents the largest such initiative in the smart metering space within the country. This partnership is poised to make a substantial contribution to Airtel's rapidly expanding IoT deployment across various sectors.
“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 of Q1 FY23-24),” said Ganesh Lakshminarayanan – CEO of Airtel Business (India).
Anil Rawal, MD & CEO of Intellismart Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd., said that India’s smart metering program is one of the significant steps taken by the government to modernize the power distribution sector. Smart meters are critical building blocks for smart grids and a fundamental enabler of the digitization efforts in 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 onboarding 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,” said Rawal.
India is set to replace 250 million conventional meters with Smart Meters over the next five years as part of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) initiative. Airtel's Internet of Things (IoT) proposition incorporates its proprietary platform, the Airtel IoT Hub.
This platform will play a crucial role in enabling utilities to track and monitor these smart meters using advanced analytics. The emphasis is on maintaining exceptionally high reliability, supplemented by telco-grade security measures. This initiative reflects a significant stride in the nation's efforts to enhance utility infrastructure through the adoption of smart technologies.
Hosted on Airtel’s proprietary cloud network, the IoT hub provides enterprise users with the capability to connect and manage billions of devices and applications securely and seamlessly.
Airtel IoT aspires to play a pivotal role in realizing the government's vision, leveraging its unique capabilities. The digitization of the power sector, supported by the Government of India's initiatives to introduce transparency and consumer-friendly measures, is expected to lead to innovations such as Smart Meters becoming commonplace.