- Airtel to commercially launch a narrow-band IoT service in India in the coming months
- To carry out NB-IoT trials, Airtel has selected 20,000 sites in Karnataka and Chennai
Bharti Airtel is building new revenue streams in the Internet of Things (IoT), security and data centers, which has resulted in sequential growth in revenues. This news comes after the revenue for the September quarter remained flattish at Rs 33,312 million as compared to Rs 33,458 million in the corresponding quarter last year.
Airtel had plans to commercially launch a narrow-band IoT service in India in the coming months. To carry out NB-IoT trials, Airtel has selected 20,000 sites in Karnataka and Chennai. This development ushers in after having various partners on board to develop a complete device and sensor ecosystem, said Ajay Chitkara, director and CEO of Airtel Business to Economic Times.
IoT – The next revenue generator
Within the enterprise business, IoT is expected to be the growth area going forward, given that the consumer retail business continues to face competitive headwinds. The organisation incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 2,620 million in Airtel Business as compared to Rs 3,085 million in the corresponding quarter last year and Rs 1,155 million in the previous quarter.
Airtel stated that its enterprise arm’s operating free cash flow during the quarter was Rs 6,776 million as compared to Rs 7,674 million n in the corresponding quarter last year and Rs 6,500 million in the previous quarter.
