Oracle modernising Airtel for larger 5G roll-out in India: Top executive

As Bharti Airtel rolls out 5G services in select cities in India, Cloud major Oracle is busy helping the telecom operator in its digital metamorphosis to serve its stakeholders and customers better

As Bharti Airtel rolls out 5G services in select cities in India, Cloud major Oracle is busy helping the telecom operator in its digital metamorphosis, internally as well as externally, to serve its stakeholders and customers better as it transitions from 4G to 5G.

Airtel has launched 5G Plus services in eight cities and users will not need to change the SIM card as the existing Airtel 4G SIM is now 5G-enabled.

Customers in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi will start enjoying the Airtel 5G Plus services in a phased manner, said the company, as it continues to construct its network and complete the roll out.

The company promises between 20 to 30 times higher speeds than the current speed, coupled with brilliant voice experience and super-fast call connect.

Prasad Rai, Vice President of Global Strategic Clients Group at Oracle India, told IANS that they have worked very closely with them "to modernise their organisations as they change from the 4G to the 5G worlda.

"Airtel has deployed our Fusion ERP and SCM Cloud solutions that are helping them address some of the challenges such as real-time integration, automation and less scope of collaboration, simplification and agility for the 5G era," Rai elaborated.

In November last year, Oracle and Bharti Airtel announced new Cloud and data centre deals to help boost the digital economy and empower more than 1 million enterprise customers.

To support the increasing demand for cloud services in India, OracleAbegan expanding its India (Mumbai) region capacity with Nxtra by Airtel.

Nxtra by Airtel has the largest network of data centres in India with 12 large and 120 edge data centres across the country and will invest over Rs 5,000 crore over the next four years to expand its capacity by 3X to over 400 MW.

"With its 5G ready network and large investments in digital infrastructure including data centres, Airtel is well positioned to tap the emerging growth opportunities in the enterprise segment as businesses accelerate their digital transformation journeys," according to Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and CEO, Bharti Airtel.

Airtel Business and Oracle now jointly market Oracle Cloud solutions to enterprise customers in the private and public sectors.

With the evolution of 5G, the telcos need to hire the right kind of talent and, therefore "Airtel has deployed Oracle Fusion ERP and SCM to drive productivity and responsiveness", Rai told IANS here on the sidelines of the 'Oracle CloudWorld 2022' event.

With the Cloud ERP and SCM deployments, Airtel has been able to automate manual processes, gain an on-demand 360-degree view of its financial data and streamline procurement and supply chain management.

This has helped transform Airtel's internal operating models to enable its partners and employees to deliver better customer engagement and services as it prepares for a larger 5G roll-out in the country.

(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)

--IANS

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