Airtel Business Doubling Down On Growth In IoT Division The growth is fuelled by consistent strategic investments in both in-house IoT platforms and a custom network built for IoT devices, says Sharat Sinha, Director & CEO- Airtel Business
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The Internet of Things (IoT) is the force behind the world's major revolution in connected technology solutions. IoT helps enterprises unlock a competitive edge by driving efficiency, enhancing safety, reducing costs, and enabling smarter decision-making across sectors. "For Airtel, IoT is amongst the fastest growing product portfolios in the enterprise space with a focus on doubling down growth. Our growth in this space is attributed to our consistent strategic investments in both our in-house IoT platform and a custom network built for IoT devices. We are increasingly combining connectivity and Cloud services, making our solutions an economical choice for customers," said Sharat Sinha, Director & CEO- Airtel Business.
Airtel Business currently connects over 48 million IoT devices across use cases. IoT initiatives are also being driven by digitization programs of the Government such as National Smart Grid Mission aimed at reducing aggregate technical and commercial losses for the DISCOMs. "In this area , we are working with SIs deploying the smart metering solutions and acting as one stop solution providers for the smart metering technology stack," he said.
IoT connectivity remains the company's largest contributor and the focus is expanding beyond core capabilities.
The connected car ecosystem
One of the emerging trends in terms of consumer IoT can be witnessed in the automotive sector. The connected car ecosystem in India has evolved rapidly over the past 24-36 months, with all leading auto manufacturers either launching connected offerings or gearing up for it. "The focus of OEMs is to launch an Internet-enabled vehicle, wherein connectivity and smart features are at the core of the product offering. We tailor IoT solutions to cater to the distinct needs encountered by enterprises across the automobile domain. OEMs are looking for solutions to enable traffic segregation between infotainment and vehicle telematics, a problem we have solved by enabling multi-APN support. They are also looking to share the connectivity costs with the vehicle owner, which has been enabled by Airtel Business via an innovative multi-party billing solution," added the CEO.
Connected vehicle data has the potential to redefine the driving experience. With India gearing up to become a global manufacturing hub for automobiles, device OEMs and IoT solution providers are looking to manufacture and build their IoT solutions in India and deploy globally. Some of the other analytics are around real time driving patterns and driver behavior helping OEMs build features aimed at improving safety. OEMs today implement security features such as emergency calling (e-call) and SOS communication to ensure that the vehicle can communicate with a contact center in case the passenger needs any help.
5G & Beyond
While the network infrastructure is rapidly expanding, the widespread adoption of 5G IoT devices will take time. For 5G IoT to achieve widespread penetration, the cost of 5G modules and devices needs to significantly decrease. Automotive OEMs will be the earliest adopters of full 5G capabilities for IoT. This is primarily driven by the need for higher throughput to support bandwidth-intensive use cases like in-car infotainment, including music streaming, video on demand, and seamless connectivity for multiple passenger devices. These applications benefit significantly from the enhanced speeds and capacity that 5G provides.
"Beyond these high-bandwidth applications, we anticipate that the broader 5G IoT market will also gravitate towards 5G Reduced Capability (RedCap). Use cases such as advanced wearables, industrial sensors, are ideal candidates for RedCap, offering a better balance of performance, power efficiency, and cost. Our core network already supports 5G RedCap. However, the widespread availability of cost-effective RedCap modules and the development of such solutions will take time to evolve," Sinha said.
In Fy26, as part of expansion, Airtel Business will continue to provide comprehensive full-stack solutions across various verticals like asset monitoring, energy management, and smart logistics. Specifically for the smart metering sector, where large SIs and EPC companies are seeking single-stop providers for their technology stack.
As IoT devices penetration increases, issues around data security and privacy are gaining prominence. "We have been building capabilities to ensure that our customers and their data always remain secure. Airtel Business strictly complies with Department of Telecom's guidelines on IoT which mandate restrictive communication for IoT devices. We have deployed dedicated core network infrastructure which enforces these policies stringently, while giving our customers the flexibility to dynamically configure and define rules on the fly," the CEO explained.
Enterprise IoT market growth is set to accelerate in 2025. Starting this year, the enterprise IoT market growth is forecasted to re-accelerate, growing at 14 percent CAGR through 2030. Driving this recovery is spending on IoT-related SaaS and IaaS, both forecasted to grow at over 20 percent CAGR through the rest of the decade, stated a report by IOT Analytics.
