Airtel, Nokia to collaborate on Industry 4.0 applications for enterprises

Bharti Airtel and Nokia, a global telecommunications equipment and service provider, have partnered to offer private LTE based Industry 4.0 solution to enterprises.

The partnership will address the emerging requirements of enterprises across banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), information technology enabled services (ITES), media and services, manufacturing and distribution with technologies such as cloud, IoT, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and edge computing concepts.

In addition, the two companies will explore the development of 5G use-cases for the enterprises.

Industry 4.0 relies on low-latency, high-reliability networks as well as capabilities in robotics and artificial intelligence to drive new levels of automation and data exchange in manufacturing industries, resulting in improved operational efficiency and reduced costs. The LTE Technology has over time evolved and matured to provide reliable, secure, high-capacity connectivity for industrial applications and digitalization. An ABI Research report estimates Private wireless networking market opportunity to be worth over US$16 billion by 2025.

Airtel serves over 2,500 large businesses and over 500,000 SMBs and technology start-ups across India.

Airtel and Nokia partnership will open the doors for Industry 4.0 revolution with private LTE for the enterprises in India. This partnership will enable delivering extensive private wireless portfolio with intrinsic security, mission-critical reliability and vast coverage to meet the growing demand for a network that can support high volume of data with low latency along with wide range telecom portfolio of Airtel.

To demonstrate the potential of the partnership, the two companies have collaborated on Industry 4.0 deployment at Nokia’s state-of-the-art telecommunication equipment factory at Chennai on 10th Jan 2020. The deployment focuses on digitization, predictive & prescriptive analytics and robotics connected through low latency & secure LTE technology to maximize efficiency and productivity. The deployment is a showcase of innovation and benefits that private LTE based Industry 4.0 can provide the enterprises.

Ashish Arora, CEO – Enterprise Business, Airtel Business, said: "We are pleased to expand our strategic partnership with Nokia to build cutting edge Industry 4.0 solutions for enterprises. At Airtel, our ambition is to be a key enabler of digital transformation of businesses and with our future ready connectivity platforms and ecosystem of partners, we are uniquely positioned to serve this massive demand.”

Naresh Asija, Vice President & Head of Customer Team for Bharti Airtel at Nokia, said: "Telecommunication service providers play a key role in transforming Digital India We are delighted to partner with Airtel as the operator leads the way in driving 4th industrial revolution in India for enterprises. Nokia will contribute with our end-to-end portfolio and deep industry expertise with over 120 private wireless customers across industries globally.”