Business News | Airtel Bets on Financial Services, Data Centres and Cloud as Next Growth Drivers: Sunil Bharti Mittal

New Delhi [India], July 13 (ANI): Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal has identified financial services, data centres and Airtel Cloud as the company's three key growth engines, signalling the telecom major's strategy to diversify beyond connectivity and strengthen its digital services portfolio.

Mittal said Airtel Money, which recently received Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approval to operate as a non-deposit-taking NBFC, "will be suitably capitalised over the years". On the data centre business, he said Nxtra is "on track to build 1 GW of capacity over the next few years", supported by a US$1 billion fundraise from marquee investors alongside Airtel's participation. He added that Airtel Cloud is witnessing encouraging early traction by offering sovereign, telco-grade cloud services hosted within India.

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The comments came in Airtel's FY26 Annual Report, where Mittal also outlined the company's broader investment strategy centred on digital infrastructure, including 5G, fibre, artificial intelligence (AI), cloud and data centres, to support India's next phase of digital transformation.

Mittal said the telecom major will continue investing in future-ready infrastructure while maintaining disciplined capital allocation, as rising digital adoption, AI deployment and supportive government policies create new growth opportunities. The company believes sustained investments in connectivity and digital platforms will strengthen its leadership across consumer and enterprise businesses while creating new revenue streams.

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"Airtel's investments are directed towards harnessing new growth engines for India that rest on the foundation of a resilient and secure digital infrastructure. These will be shaped by the same principles that have guided Airtel's journey so far -- customer first approach, disciplined execution and a long-term vision," Mittal said in his message to shareholders.

Highlighting Airtel's long-term commitment to building digital infrastructure, Mittal said the company has invested more than Rs 3.3 trillion over the last decade. "The emergence of the 5G economy is defining the next phase of growth," he said, adding that continued investments in network quality, coverage and capacity expansion remain a key differentiator for the company.

Mittal said Airtel is stepping up investments in its home broadband business through faster fibre deployment and Fixed Wireless Access (FWA). During FY26, the company added a record of around 8 million fibre home passes and expanded FWA services to more than 3,300 cities, resulting in record net customer additions. Airtel is also seeing strong momentum in enterprise services, driven by cloud, cybersecurity, IoT and CPaaS offerings.

On network investments, Mittal said Airtel's "5G standalone readiness marks an important milestone", and the company is "investing at an accelerated pace in strengthening our transport network and building out advanced 5G capabilities", intending to deliver a superior customer experience. He added that Airtel's strong balance sheet and prudent capital allocation provide the financial flexibility to continue investing in long-term growth opportunities while maintaining shareholder returns. (ANI)

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