Telecom service provider, Bharti Airtel, is likely to set up a new technology center in Pune to drive its digital services in the western region. To take this step forward, the Sunil Mittal-backed telco is looking to hire some 500 digital engineering professionals by the end of the current fiscal.
Bharti Airtel Chief Information Officer Pradeep Kapoor confirmed the plan and told PTI that Airtel is rapidly expanding its in-house digital talent pool to support its transformation into a digital telco.
“Pune being an established IT and tech hub, it is a clear choice for Airtel to tap into the talent pool and drive cross-industry collaborations,” Kapoor said.
A senior company official told the news agency that Airtel will initially hire 500 digital engineering professionals for the upcoming facility. It is planning to hire in multiple experience and domains like Big Data, Machine Learning, Dev Ops, Tech Ops, etc.
The official revealed that apart from hiring top global talent including Silicon Valley and domestic start-ups, Airtel is also looking to rope in engineering institutes like IITs, NITS and IIITs for its digital technology hubs.
This will be the company’s fourth digital technology hub in the country and the first in the western region. These hubs support Airtel’s strategy of becoming a digital services company, especially with 5G services on the horizon.
The company already has similar digital technology hubs in Gurgaon, Bengaluru (Airtel X-Labs) and Noida, employing around 3,000 employees.
Currently, the company’s digital assets include the Airtel Thanks app, Wink Music app and the Airtel Xstream content platform, which has over 180 million monthly active users.
Airtel has said it has invested over $46 billion over the past few decades to build a digital infrastructure that accounts for 40% of India’s economic and digital activity.
Earlier this week, Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said Bharti Airtel’s digital business stream will generate multi-billion dollar revenue over the next few years and offer a better multiplier at valuation than telcos as the CAPEX needs are less than telcos. Will be
At a CII event, Mittal said Airtel is consistently creating value from its own digital assets such as Wynk Music and Airtel Thanks, apart from advertising, cyber security, Cloud for SMEs and CPAs as a service. building a communication platform. Behind the partnerships with companies specializing in the segment.
“Our digital revenue should start to become meaningful on its own in the next few years to several billion dollars, and thankfully the valuation of the multiples it generates in the digital business – because capex is low – is much better than that of telecom Mittal. Spoke at the virtual event, which is a very solid business, but a business that consumes capital and spectrum every year.(It) would be a good combination for the group.