Airtel-IBM Alliance: Cloud Footprint Set to Triple with AI-Ready Infrastructure for Indian Enterprises

Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, has entered a strategic partnership with IBM to strengthen its recently launched Airtel Cloud platform. The collaboration, announced on October 15, aims to expand cloud computing capacity in India amid growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) solutions and increased requirements for domestic data storage.

Unveiled in August through Airtel’s digital division, Xtelify, Airtel Cloud will now integrate IBM’s advanced technologies under this new agreement. The partnership grants Airtel Cloud customers access to IBM Power Systems offered “as-a-Service,” incorporating the latest IBM Power11 servers engineered for AI workloads and mission-critical enterprise applications. These systems are tailored for use in sectors such as banking, government, and healthcare, where data compliance and reliability are essential. The service also supports multiple operating environments—including IBM Power AIX, IBM i, Linux, and SAP Cloud ERP—to simplify enterprise migration to SAP Cloud ERP on IBM Power Virtual Server.

In a statement shared by Airtel, Gopal Vittal, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, said that the collaboration brings significant new capabilities to Airtel Cloud, particularly in AI readiness and workload migration. He added that Airtel is broadening its infrastructure footprint, expanding the number of availability zones across India from four to ten, and that these will be hosted in next-generation, energy-efficient data centres. The company also confirmed plans to establish two new Multizone Regions (MZRs) in Mumbai and Chennai.

MZRs consist of physically separated yet interconnected data centres designed to ensure business continuity and protect data integrity during system outages. Airtel and IBM expect that the new infrastructure will help enterprises meet India’s data residency requirements and maintain the resilience of mission-critical operations.

Rob Thomas, IBM’s Senior Vice-President and Chief Commercial Officer, said that the collaboration enables organisations to modernise their IT infrastructure while responding to evolving regulatory and AI-driven technology needs. He noted that the partnership would let Indian clients harness IBM’s hybrid cloud and AI ecosystem—featuring watsonx and Red Hat OpenShift AI—to deploy and manage AI workloads across on-premise, cloud, and edge environments.

The announcement follows a series of recent technology investments in India’s digital ecosystem. Just a day earlier, Google revealed a commitment of more than $10 billion over five years to develop an AI-focused data centre in Andhra Pradesh, a project in which Airtel is already a key partner through a joint facility in Visakhapatnam.