Bharti Airtel has revealed a strategic collaboration with IntelliSmart Infrastructure Private Limited to deploy smart meters for up to 20 million households nationwide. This alliance signifies Airtel's entry into advanced applications like Advanced Metering Infrastructure, meter data management systems, as well as Cloud and Analytics. Airtel aims to play a significant part in supporting the government's initiative for smart meters.

The Indian government envisions substituting 250 million traditional meters with Smart Meters within the next five years through the AMI initiative. Airtel asserts its commitment to playing a crucial role in facilitating the government's vision by leveraging its distinctive capabilities.

Ganesh Lakshminarayanan – CEO, Airtel Business (India) said about the venture, "We have further strengthened our market leadership as the largest IoT enabler in the country. IoT is one of the fastest-growing business segments for Airtel Business and, with this deal, we are now strategically positioned to play a pivotal role in driving the Govt. of India’s vision of digitizing 250 million conventional meters to smart meters. As we connect the devices across the country on our platform, we will exponentially grow our current IoT market share of 55.4% (as on Q1 FY23-24)".

Anil Rawal – MD & CEO, Intellismart Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. had this to say, "India’s smart metering programme is one of the significant steps taken by the government to modernize the power distribution sector. Smart meters are critical building blocks for smart grids and a fundamental enabler of the digitalization efforts of the power system. As we set forward to implement one of India’s largest portfolios of smart meters, we are relying on some of the most able and potent partners in the sector for various solution elements to support the successful deployment of our Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) solutions. We are confident that the onboarding of Airtel as a strategic partner will be a significant step towards our goal of creating strong associations to strengthen our infrastructure solution with a resilient and secure cloud-hosted cellular communication network".